Antoine Roussel: Valeri Nichushkin was just as hard to handle with the Stars

The news involving Valeri Nichushkin has been the talk of the town in recent days.

His team-mates publicly slammed him for his bad decisions…

And ultimately, it’s safe to say that all this had an impact on the Avalanche’s crushing 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Monday night.

After all, it must have been difficult for the players to focus on the ultimate goal, because it was a major distraction.

Antoine Roussel spoke about the subject last night on 98.5 FM, and he’s in a good position to comment on the situation because he played alongside Nichushkin when he was in Dallas.

The former NHL player, who isn ‘t afraid to speak his mind out loud, explained that it was difficult for the Stars organization to deal with Nichushkin in the past because he saw himself higher than everyone else:

In the beginning, he wasn’t necessarily easy to manage as a player, because he thought he was owed everything.

As part of a team, it was a little harder to manage. – Antoine Roussel

Valeri Nichushkin | “He thought he was owed everything” -Antoine Roussel https://t.co/jnClhhc0TU

– 98.5 FM (@le985fm) May 15, 2024

It’s hard to say, but Nichushkin has never been able to solve his problems off the ice.

And now the Avalanche have been deprived of their leading scorer since the start of the playoffs.

The Russian has still scored nine goals in eight playoff games this year, and was a big help to his club in the first series against the Jets…

At the end of the day, the Avalanche players have every right to be angry, because they know what an excellent hockey player Valeri Nichushkin is.

He made a choice he should never have made, and we’re seeing the results today.

That said, with everything that’s happened in the last few days and seeing how dominant the Stars are right now(especially because of Wyatt Johnston), I’d have a hard time betting on the Avalanche tonight.

The Colorado outfit is facing elimination, after all… And what’s more, the game will be presented in Dallas.

Roundup

– Absolutely.

– Interesting.

– Oh yeah?

– It’s true!