Andrey SenchenkoSport correspondentAll materialsSend to the authorColorado Avalanche is the owner of the Stanley Cup season 2021/22. One of the main characters of the club was Valery Nichushkin. The Russian had his best year in the NHL and returned the title to Denver. But more recently, the forward, who was predicted to have a great career future, was just an object of ridicule. 52 points in 62 regular season games with a utility indicator of «+21», 15 points in 20 playoff games, the role of one of the club's irreplaceable leaders and the justly won Stanley Cup — Valery Nichushkin could only dream of such results of the hockey year, and he hardly imagined that he would achieve all this this season. Indeed, quite recently, the talented Russian forward had to naturally endure bullying and at the same time look for motivation to fight for a place in the NHL, not succumbing to the temptation to quit everything and return to the KHL for a fat contract before retirement. The story of Valery Nichushkin is as dramatic as it is instructive. On his own experience, the Russian showed how not to give up when almost everyone was disappointed in you, and still succeed. Compatriot Evgenia Kuznetsova left the KHL in the status of a rising star and at first in the NHL looked very good. Drafted by Dallas in the first round of the 2013 Draft, Valery quickly made his way to the Stars' starting lineup and earned the trust of then-Stars mentor Lindy Ruff. The Russian striker was distinguished by efficiency and usefulness, he took place in the majority brigade, and sometimes in the first link. But then everything went awry: injuries, loss of a place in the base and a return to Russia. Nichushkin spent two seasons in CSKA and did not achieve much success: the performance was at an average level, and the “soldiers” and Valery did not wait for big victories. “He was constantly told:“ Valera, be careful here, be more attentive here. attention, for him this is nonsense, nitpicking. I didn’t understand that if you don’t do it in training, then you won’t do it in the game either. It was hard to see it, because he had all the data, but he buried them, «said about Nichushkin coach Igor Gorbenko who worked with him at CSKA.
