Val Nichushkin’s Injury Will Once Again Test the Colorado Avalanche

Val Nichushkin’s Injury Will Once Again Test the Colorado Avalanche

Val Nuskin is set to miss quote sometime and if history is any indication that could pose a problem for the Colorado Avalanche. So let’s talk about that on a new episode of Locked on Avalanche coming at you. You’re Locked on Avalanche, your daily podcast on the Colorado Avalanche, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. All right, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Locked On Avalanche, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I’m your host, Chris Meli. With me, as always, Mr. Zach Pearson. Thank you for tuning in, making this your first listen of the day. And thank you for making the Lockdown Podcast Network the number one sports podcast network in the country. So, thank you for tuning in again, making it your first listen of the day. Always appreciated for all of that stuff. Uh, if you want to get in on the conversation, then join our subtext. Link is in the show notes below. You chat with us oneon-one, get your opinion, everything Avalanche related, share it on this very podcast, which we will do a little bit later when we talk about the Buffalo Sabres coming to town. We have some predictions from the subtext crew. Uh we were going to start Gavin Brinley extension, but that got pushed down a little bit and we’ll talk about that in the the second segment because like I said, Valenuskin is set to miss some time. He missed the most of the third period in uh the the game against Anaheim. And Jared Bender has gone on to say lower body injury. He’s talking with doctors. They’re they’re going to they’re going to I’m assuming update us whenever they know, but right now we got what we got is lower body injury and he’s going to miss some time. None of it sounds good. And uh yeah, like the ABS when they don’t have him, they miss him dearly. So thoughts, what do you got? Uh my thoughts are exactly that. When the ABS do not have Nushkin on the ice, they miss him greatly. I don’t remember the number at the end of last season, but I feel like it was like double the amount of wins with Val versus without Val in the same sample size. And it is just crazy what he means to the team. My hope, and this is just hope and positivity here, is that Gabe Landiskog will bring some of that back, like some of what Val brings to the table, and that’ll make up for some of it. Uh, but honestly, I have no idea. My other hope is that some time ends up being just a little bit and we’re not without Val for too long. Um, yeah. Yeah, Bednar was very vague on Altitude Sports Radio uh Wednesday morning. Not really a whole bunch of information that he gave out there, just, you know, not sure, no update. And then at the optional skate, that’s when he said that uh he’s going for imaging. They’re going to do all the tests and he’s going to miss time. And no idea, no time frame, just some time. Um the well I I have the numbers for the entirety of his career with the Avalanche. I know last year was or the last couple years are pretty um they they they yeah they they were the difference was wide with him and without him but it’s also very wide for his entire career with the Avalanche. So um with him they are 235 80 and 34 uh and without him 296 259 and 59. So with him they’re 72% uh win percentage team and without him they’re 530. Brutal. And that’s since when uh 2019 I want to say. Yeah. Um it’s crazy. It’s wild. It’s and and you don’t hear that from any other player. And the Avalanche have had injuries over and over and over again over the past number of years. And you never hear stats like that from any other player. Yeah, you miss miss guys when they’re injured. That’s that goes without saying. But you don’t hear, you know, the record like that and the difference between with him and without him. There’s something going on there when Vachuskin, you know what it is. He’s he’s he’s a great player. He’s a dynamic player. He he does so much for this team. So, you get it. But it’s just wild that he’s the the the central focus of uh a good barometer of if this team wins and if this team loses and how this team has gotten off for for the the start of this season. This is concerning like this is going to be your first test without a doubt because you know the numbers are what they are and that’s not just going back a year. We’re going back six years now. So uh the the proof is in the pudding. the proof is in the record. Uh, you know, this is going to be a test. You are going to be tested for the Avalanche. But I’m happy that they’ve gotten out to the start because they’re a confident team and they’ve always had that mentality of next man up and whoever is, you know, out uh the next guy needs to come in or whoever their placement is. And they’ve done, you know, well that, you know, we we’ve seen them get through injuries so many times. Uh, but not knowing how long this one is is is what’s killing me because, you know, is sometime a week or two or is sometime a month or two? There’s big differences. Yeah, there really is. And that’s going to be kind of what it boils down to. I wonder what they’re going to do because you still can’t slot Logan Oconor back in. This doesn’t like and it would have wor like if only Val could have waited three more weeks before getting injured. Then LOC’s back and we don’t have to worry about this. I don’t know who they’re going to bring in. I mean, I got to think Neielen, Macar, or maybe Guushian, but yeah. Um, I don’t know. It’s It’s interesting because, you know, they they sometimes will give guys that you’re not even thinking of like Yeah. Um, you know what’s going on with Ivan Ivan? I haven’t really heard is he’s not injured, right? doing better in the AHL right now. Last I saw, he’s doing all right with the Eagles. So, that’s another possibility. That’s actually really weird. I didn’t even think about him. He is so off my radar and he was one of my more favorite young guys last year. Yeah. I mean, and guys that have been given chances last year, you know, you have Pishapov who was up there for a handful of games last year. I think he’s still injured right now though on IR. Is he injured? Yep. At least according to Puck Media, he’s still on the injury reserve list. Let me see where he is here. Okay. I mean, I I I’m not saying you’re wrong. Oh, yeah. He There is. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Hey, hold on. I know I asked you to be the co-host, but let me fact. Um I I think just where we’re going with this is like it could be a number of guys. Like there’s no there’s there’s not not that guy that okay, we need a forward. This is who we go get and we bring him up. Um, so we’ll see. But yeah, as far as the second line goes, yeah, I think, you know, you you bring Gabe back up there for now. I don’t think you try to extend uh Gavin Brinley too much and try to put him up there a little bit before he’s ready. Yeah, he’s playing great. We’ll talk about him next obviously, but I think that’s a little bit of reach. No, I think that I think the obvious answer here is go back to Gabe. Um, and maybe that goal ignited something and yeah, throw him back up there. I think that absolutely I think that makes the most sense. A Colton Nelson Landiskog line should on paper be really good. Yeah. Um I think you could pop Brinley even up to the third line. Brinley or Kelly, but I would proof. Actually, Kelly’s had a really good run of it too. I know you can move either of those two to the third line and just kind of shuffle that. And then like uh I don’t know on Pipov, but Kirto is skating again. LOC is getting closer, although I don’t know that he’s been on the ice or not, but then you can also bring up potentially an Ivan or a Neielson or a Macarum because all those guys too can go back down. Yeah. Just without having to clear waivers. So that gives you a little bit of flexibility there for when either Ki or Okconor come back. And so like you can definitely that bottom six can be a little bit of kind of a shuffle around and see what fits the best. Brimley gets an opportunity, Kelly gets an opportunity, you could have something that works out pretty well. And yeah, yeah, if this goal Go ahead. If the goal for Landiskog does open up the floodgates like we kind of were talking about on the last episode, then he should do great on the second line. Yeah. Uh sounded like Givirant is a ways away. Um so I’m not banking on that anytime soon. Okconor were kind of at the start of that time frame where he could be coming back back up. Yeah. So, um that would take the the sting out a little bit. I’m not saying Logan Oconor does what uh Vanuskin does. It’s just, you know, an established guy back uh would be nice to take the edge off a little bit um if he could come back earlier in this sometime that Nichusin is about to miss than later. Uh overall, what’s going on here? Because we even said at the, you know, beginning of this year, if Val can play a full season or close to it, miss Yep. handful of games, five, six, what seven is, whatever. Um, and get give you a full year of not only stats, but just showing what he does on the ice, um, as you know, defensive forward. uh be on a lot more guys radars and injuries are injuries. I’m not saying, you know, sometimes they’re not preventable, but this is a problem with him. Like, we are going how many years in a row where there’s an injury? Never mind the suspension part of things, just the injury part of things. Like, he he gets injured a lot. Um, and he’s a big guy. So, that that’s a concern. That is a real concern for me. And maybe when we get the answer back, if the the sometime he misses is only a couple weeks, okay, like I can deal with that cuz guys are going to miss time during the season. Everybody’s probably going to miss some time. Uh, but if this thing is one of those things, the Avalanche just seem to have this this thing where you you hear like Kivir, like you hear they have an injury and it just keeps going and going and going and they’re not back until like February. That just seems to happen to Avalanche players a lot. I really hope that’s not what happens with with Nichuskin right here. So, but what’s going on? Like it’s just is a yearly thing. It is. And I’ve seen a bunch of comments on this too where people are like, “Oh, yep. It’s just that time of year where Val Nachushkin is injured once again and he’s going to miss some time. Um it is kind of I guess it’s like Mark Stone going to LTI like Yep. It’s February. Mark Stone is on LTI once again. Yep. Um No. And what’s crazy though is I just plugged it in real quick. out of like 164 possible points in a season, Val Machuskin, if he played every game based on the last six years, you’re guaranteed 123 point season based on getting roughly 75% of your points. Okay. Which like it’s just crazy how good with that. So, if he can miss a few games, like you said, then it still sets the ABS up to be in a really good spot because it’s it is crazy how much he seems to mean to this lineup. I mean, they’re going to miss it. Like, his forcheing is is nobody’s close to him. I don’t feel like on on the ABS for forchecking. I mean, they have good for checkers. Lechan’s a good one. And I was going to say Leky might be the closest. Yeah. But there’s value, but it’s not him. his size, his reach, his wingspan, like like he does that and yeah, he’s got an offensive ability to him. Like he they rely on him for so much and and you’re going to miss that. So, uh yeah, this this will definitely be a challenge for ever how long he is out for. Um and we’ll talk about the Sabres game in in a little bit here, too. So, um, why don’t we get our first break in and then, uh, the guy we just mentioned, Gavin Brinley, he gets a a nice little extension, a good little bit of business for the Avalanche, too, with this one. So, uh, let’s get a break in and we come back, we’ll discuss that. First, we’re going to hear from Drip Drop. And when you want to get hydrated or when you are hydrated, everything just works better. your focus, your energy, your mood, even your skin. And that’s why you have to use Drip Drop. It’s a doctordeveloped hydration system that keeps you running at full power no matter what your day looks like. Drip Drop isn’t your average sports drink. It delivers three times the electrolytes and half the sugar of leading brands using a sciencebacked formula trusted by medical professionals, firefighters, and over 90% of top college and pro teams. So, right now you can order Drip Drop and they’re offering podcast listeners a 20% off of your first order deal. Go to dripdrop.com. Use the promo code locked on NHL. That is dripdrop.com. on promo code lockdown NHL for 20% off. So stock up now before hitting the ice and keep your body and mind performing at their best with Drip Drop. So Gavin Brinley, it’s all aces for him right now. he’s having a a great start of his career uh with the Avalanche and he he kind of said like, you know, there’s a little bit of a chip on his shoulder because he felt like Columbus kind of gave up on him a little bit too early. Um so he’s he’s playing with that and he and he plays with that chip anyway. So he didn’t need he didn’t need an added chip, but he got an added chip and you can see it in his play and the Avalanche are rewarding him. I guess you could say they’re rewarding him. They’re paying him less, right? But there it’s a it’s a two-year extension. Uh you know, the first year is a two-way deal, whatever. Uh you know, if they send him down, he’ll make less money. I I’m not concerned about the money part of it. Um I’m more concerned that, you know, at least they got him for a couple more years and then if all goes well, you’ll have him for an even longer period of time. But, uh it’s it’s off to a really good start in the Gavin Brinley career with the Colorado Avalanche. signs for 875 cap hit. Looks like right now he’s at 950. Um, so I mean, not only are you keeping him under a million for two more years, but under 900,000 is a bit of a really tidy piece of business. Plus, looking it up when it expires, he’s a restricted free agent, which puts the ABS in the best position to potentially extend him. Like you said, get him get him a longer contract after that, too. If he keeps playing the way he has been, there’s no reason to think the ABS won’t and that’s probably when he makes his payday. My guess with a little bit of a pay decrease here is a mix of that chip on the shoulder and a betting on himself intensely and saying in two years I will be showing exactly what I’m worth and I will be getting that paycheck. We’ll see. Like I I think that next contract will be a very interesting one. When that is up, he will be 23 years old. Yep. So, you know, depending on what he does for these next two years, is going to be similar to the Bo Byum like contract like when he was at that age, like do you extend him or do you bridge him? Uh because if you bridge him, then he’s at the end of that contract, you know, he can be a restricted free agent again. Uh but then you run the risk of you know the the the better those guys play the more you need to pay up. So it’s you know do the abs at the end of this two and I know we’re already talking about the end of this two-year contract that has even kicked in yet but you know you kind of have to you got to figure out that’s what you got to do as a GM is if you’re happy with you know going into the second year of this extension of what you think he can become you sign him to uh a longer term deal. Y and I say you run the risk of that flowing into him being an unrestricted but you always have that that backup of you can deal with them in the last year you know like you are with Kale Mar exactly like with Kale Mar and a lot of people were thinking like oh what do they do with Mar as far as a bridge or you do go long term they went longer term it runs into him being unrestricted but you have exclusive rights in dealing with him for that last year so it’s kind of a non-factor when you when you think about that. But when you have that RFA title, it it makes teams a little bit more comfortable because you’re really most of the time not going anywhere. Yeah. So, we’ll see. We’ll see where this all goes. But, I mean, right now it’s it I think everybody’s happy and uh he’s got, you know, this season and two more two more years to really produce. And uh I think you got to love what this kid can provide. And if if all goes well, being abs for an app for a long time. And I mean, as far as potentially doing the longer term and putting yourself in a situation like you have with Kale, you on the uh on the radio today, I believe Bednar or on the radio Wednesday morning, Bednar said um that Brinley was on Cmax radar to be drafted in this in the draft. He was picked up and was picked I don’t even remember how far ahead Columbus was, but a few picks ahead wanted it. Oh, were the AS I mean he was second round was early in the second round. He was like the was he second or third pick or something in the second round. Um, and I don’t know where the odds were in the second round of that pick or that I just that’s what Bedar said this morning was he was he was kind of Cmax like target one of the targets and ended up getting picked up and then you end up being able to grab the guy anyway and then I’ve actually got a uh somebody had quoted Bedar from Altitude SR Wednesday morning as well and he says uh quote he comes into camp and he just flat out made our team. He’s a dog on the puck. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and he’s done it well. End quote. Like Bednar really likes him. Cmac really likes him. The fans are liking him, especially right now. This is to me this just feels like a brilliant extension for the situation that you find yourself in with this kid, right? like it puts you in such a good position to have a potential super high ceiling player and then be able to like renegotiate, figure everything out after this 2-year extension is up. So, I’m super stoked for the kid to have the have the team set and I think it’s a good piece of work by the ABS front office. Sure. Absolutely. And and you know, you saying that of what Berar was saying and how he just came in and like just took a spot, you know, you’re going to get guys in his uh like where he is with his career kind of just like putting in just like unbelievable effort in in in in preseason because they want to make the team clearly. Um and I don’t know sometimes maybe that goes away but this is how he’s built. like that that wasn’t just that wasn’t just to make the team. That’s how he plays. It’s how he plays all the time. And I think the Az confident in that like, hey, we could give him a roster spot. And that that like the want to to go back to my uh rookie of the year movie or no, the have to. The have to, not the want, the have to. Um it like they were pretty confident like that’s not going to stop. He’s not just doing this just to get a roster spot. He’s doing that because that’s how he’s built and you’re you’re you’re seeing it like he just has a motor that doesn’t quit and um yeah you you feel good about this mo early returns on this are um is it crazy to say that the ads would win that trade so far. I mean I know isn’t Miles Wood hurt and I don’t remember if Miles Wood is hurt but Coyle doesn’t look excellent even he’s got I haven’t looked him up at all. Let me see what he’s uh his stats are at. I I saw a couple of things on the last Columbus game was like, “Why are you throwing Charlie Coyle out in this situation? This doesn’t make any sense.” And yeah, I think that experiment’s not going great in Columbus right now. He’s got so 16 games in, two goals, seven assists for nine points. Okay. Wonder how it like I haven’t watched any of the games so no I I don’t get to watch a lot of Columbus games but um so that was that was nine points. Yep. And um I mean Brinley’s got five. Yeah. But this is a you know a 20-year-old compared to cap hit too. Yeah. Uh well for for Columbus let’s see what it is for 5.25. There you go. So, and how old is Coyle? 30. 33. There you go. So, yeah. I don’t want to go there. I mean, I kind of said that like jokingly. I’m not not going like about who’s winning a trade right now, but um No, but I you feel good about it. It’s not necessarily even like a oh haha Columbus. I I’m really looking at this more as the ABS had a relatively expensive aging contract, traded it for a prospect who’s working out well that you’re able to pop two additional years on. And again, I’m not trying to I feel like this segment kind of turned into uh boo on Columbus and Coyle. And that’s not necessarily what I meant to do. I I do just feel like the ABS took a situation that was not going to work out well for them, moved out of it, and set themselves up in a really good way with a very high ceiling player. And if there’s nothing else that you take away from this segment, let it be that. And not that I’m a huge jerk towards Charlie Coyle. Oh. All right. And you got a second round pick out of it, too. Yeah, exactly. In that trade. So, uh, we’ll see what that ends up being. So, overall, nice bit of business. I think everybody’s happy um with the contract and everybody’s happy with the player right now. So, but still a long way to go and you know, like we said, we’re not we’re not throwing we’re not taking him and and and sending him up to that second line right now to replace someone like Val like we’re not there, but we’re happy with where this potentially could go for him. You’ve seen and and the ABS feel it too. We talked about it when he had the overtime winner. If they’re putting him out there in threeon-ree hockey, they have high expectations for this kid. And he’s good about him. Yep. Yeah. He’s the drop back pass on power play, too, which whatever. That gets 20 25 seconds. But, uh, you know, they’re putting him out here in situations where, hey, you’re we’re expecting you to be able to handle this, and he’s been doing exactly that. On power play, too, real quick, does Nathan McKinnon just refuse to get off the ice for the power plays? cuz I’m watching other guys switch and he’s just out there like, “Nope, I I will I will score on this power play. This is my time to do it.” And who’s going to tell him no? You’re not going to tell Nathan McKinnon no on that. No, but I don’t He doesn’t need to be out there for two whole minutes on the power play. Like, let let the J have whatever. But I mean, let him do it now while while he’s still in his well, he just turned 30, right? because in a few years. I know, right? Don’t wild. So, I don’t like these things. I’m tired of feeling old talking about this, man. Don’t like aging. So, all right. Uh last break and on the other side of it, we’ll get some predictions from the subtext crew on the ABS versus the Sabres as well as our own. So, we’ll do that next. Going to hear from FanDuel. And yes, the NBA is back. There’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. So, even if you missed the start of a game or want to ride a hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a bigger shot at a payout. What do you got for the Nuggets? Are they in action as we’re talking or no? They I think the game is already started. No, starts soon. They’re playing against the Clippers. I think it’s in Denver. Okay. And at least according to Google, Denver has a 65% chance of winning. And if they are in fact in Colorado, I would say that’s a pretty good pretty good opportunity that they win this game. Okay. All right. So, you heard it here. Zach is telling you put that $5 bet down on the Nuggets. And if that wins, you get $300 in bonus bets right into your account. So, head over to FanDuel.com, sign up, and play your game with FanDuel. the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Buffalo Sabres coming to town and kind of the same old same old for for Buffalo. Um uh they were starting to play better following the loss to the Avalanche. Yeah. Uh which was early October. Um after that game they won four out of five. They they beat the Senators 8 to4. They shut out the Panthers. Um then they lost. Forgot about that. Yeah. Then they lost to Montreal and then they beat the Red Wings and then they beat the Maple Leafs. But everybody seems to be beating the Maple Leafs these days. So uh what is happening in Toronto? I I don’t know. It’s funny. They they beat the Maple Leafs. There was a home and home backtoback with Toronto. And so the second game in Toronto, they lost that in overtime. And then they lost another game, the next game in overtime to the Blue Jackets and then they lost the next game in overtime to the Bruins and then they had a shootout win and then an overtime loss. So they are going into overtime as much as the Colorado Avalanche are. So uh maybe put money down that this thing’s going into OT because Buffalo plays a lot of games in overtime. They were on a good little run, but they’re like typical Sabers fashion coming out on the wrong side of those things. You just can’t win games. I like I saw uh I saw something posted. I don’t remember on which platform it was, but it was the and supposedly the moment that the Buffalo Sabres curse started from 2011. Okay. And it was uh another I want to say it was Boston maybe, whoever it was. opposing team hits the goalender and not a single Buffalo player like stands up for it. And somebody pinpointed that and I looked back. I’m like, yeah, actually 13 years of not good play in Buffalo tracks about right. So maybe maybe that goalender put a curse on him like the like the Chicago Cubs. It’s like a curse of the Bambino. Yeah, exactly. But I don’t it’s so wild to see because I feel like at the beginning of each season there’s this kind of hope for Buffalo that they’re going to turn it around and then they just sort of do the same thing because they have some some good players over there. They really do and it’s just like I’m always I got like you can put blame all over the place when a team is bad. You put some on the players, you can put some on the coaches. Yep. Um I like I got to feel like I’m going I’m leaning more towards the coaching here and maybe even the front office for you know lesser reasons but because I I just feel like in my head man don’t do this but uh if you put like Jared Bener on that bench like you could get so much more out of those guys. You would think so, right? Yeah. Like you go through that roster and it’s like man you guys should be better than than you really are. Um, I think what’s going to benefit the Avalanche for this game is they’re playing, as we’re recording this, the Sabres are. So, they’re on a backto-back. They’re playing the Mammoth as we speak, as we’re recording this, they’re up two to one about halfway through the second. So, the outcome of that game, like I have some interest in that because that’s the Mammoth. So, I’m actually would be rooting for Buffalo to win that game. But regardless, uh, they’re going to be, you know, a tired team. I hate using that phrase when it’s professional athletes, but hey, like they they can get tired, too. And when it’s a a struggling team, um, they probably dislike backto-backs more than anybody else. So, I think that benefits the ABS. Agreed. I And I mean, I agree. Professional team, you should be able to do kind of what you’re asked to do as far as the backto-backs, but then you look at the ABS lost to the Sharks at the beginning of the month, and that looked like the title team. Exactly. So, um, yeah, come on Buffalo, go empty your tank right now against Utah, beat the Mammoth, and then just be dead tired to come in and play play the odds tomorrow. Um, uh, yeah, go ahead. The one thing I really like about Buffalo more than anything else, and it’s I think I’ve said it before, but I will say it basically anytime that we play against this goalender, whatever team he’s on, Ukapukin is my favorite name in hockey to say. greatest name in hockey. Greatest name in hockey. It is just is. He’s not goalending uh tonight game, which means he’s not hurt, right? I thought he was I don’t think he is. I thought he was hurt earlier in the year. I could be wrong on that, but um yeah, over on subtext, we have some people chiming in on this. Lisa says, “Seems like every time they play the Sabres, it’s closer than it should be. Uh ABS will win though five to3. Fifth goal is an empty netter.” So, she thinks it’s gonna be a little close. She’s right on that. I mean, the ASBs have had those comeback victories from last year, which were like two of the best games. Yeah, especially one in Buffalo. That one was phenomenal. You don’t want to You don’t want to come from behind that much, but um especially against Buffalo, but wild game. Yep. Wild game. Uh let’s see. Madam Battleax, she’s not feeling too good about this one. She predicts Buffalo’s going to win this. I’m surprised that Madam Battleax would do that. three to four Buffalo and she says overtime, but I think this uh is our sad one. Is is it just the the Val let down like Val’s out so we’re just going to you know sulk and I can’t you can’t do that against Buffalo. No, you can’t. If you went out and stuck it to Edmonton the way you stuck it to Edmonton like you there there’s no trap games for you. There better not be. Uh and here you go. Adam says, uh, even without Val, ABS by a touchdown. Sweet. That’s what I’m talking about. I’ll take that. That’s a little bit more like I mean, you you got to think, uh, a Buffalo Sabres team on a backtoback and an Avalanche team with a day off. Should be good. Come on, boys. Raiden should be on the wall for this one. Put it away early. So, what do you think? What’s your What’s your prediction on this one? I’m going to go bold prediction. Okay. McKenzie Blackwood’s getting the start. Bednar confirmed that on uh at practice or whatever it was. He’s going to throw the shut out. Mackenzie Blackwood is going to let no goals past him. All right. And the ABS are going to put in three. I’ll one up that. I’ll say four. All right. I’ll say four. Maybe it’s an empty netter. They they you know, three nothing. They pull a goalie uh and they get an empty net. So, I’ll say I’ll say but why not? Let let’s make some uh let’s make some shutout predictions. Gotta get one. They don’t have one yet, right? No, I don’t think they do. No, because uh Wedgewood’s really good at letting in the Wedgewood one. Exact. Exactly. So, and uh Blackwood, this is going to be Blackwood’s get right, get into the rhythm of the season game. That’s just that’s the vibe I get. It would be good. Like, he needs it. He needs it because everybody’s, you know, riding Wedgwood right now and and and rightfully so. Um, but let’s get Blackwood into this mix and start having like the tandem talk rather than just uh it’s Wedgewood and and nobody else. Uh, let’s get Blackwood in the mix here. So, a shut out, even if it’s against the Sabres, would go a long way for that. It does. Yeah, it absolutely does. It’s a it the same way we said an empty net goal would reignite Landiskog’s confidence. A shut out against even any team. Any team. We’ll do that. Yep. So, we’ll be back tomorrow to talk about that, break that down. Anything uh else exciting going on in the abs nation. We’ll talk about that too on tomorrow’s episode. So, make sure you tune in to that. But for this one, thank you for tuning in and making this your first listen of the day and for making the Lockdown Podcast Network the number one sports podcast network in the country. Gotta love that. All right, we’ll see you guys tomorrow. He is Mr. Zack Pearson. I am Chris Miselli. This is the Lockdown Avalanche podcast and you’ve made it through another 24 hours where Sydney Crosby’s that much closer to being the Colorado Avalanche. There’s a second line replacement.

Colorado Avalanche face a major challenge as Valeri Nichushkin suffers a lower-body injury set to sideline him for “some time.” Can the Avalanche maintain their elite win percentage without this dynamic forward? Chris Micieli and Zach Pearson spotlight Nichushkin’s outsized impact, discussing shocking win-loss splits with and without him since 2019 and exploring potential lineup replacements, including Gabe Landeskog, Gavin Brindley, and Logan O’Connor (eventually). Will Colorado’s “next man up” mentality keep the team rolling, or is a rough stretch ahead?

The conversation heats up with insights into Gavin Brindley’s new contract extension and what his high-ceiling play means for the Avalanche’s future. Roster flexibility, bottom-six shakeups, and the looming Buffalo Sabres matchup set the stage for crucial tests ahead. Get the latest predictions, waiver-wire moves, and a full breakdown of coaching tactics—all as the Avalanche fight to stay atop the Western Conference.

00:00 Missing Val’s Impact Deeply
05:02 Avalanche’s Resilience Through Challenges
07:51 Lineup Shuffle Suggestions
09:29 Nichuskin’s Persistent Injury Concerns
15:12 Brindley Extension
16:14 Bridge or Extend Decision
26:42 Buffalo Sabres’ Overtime Struggles

Subscribe to our Subtext to talk to us directly!
https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonavalanche

Everything Locked on Avalanche:
https://solo.to/lopn_avalanche

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOAvalanche?sid=YouTube

Locked On NHL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Prospects & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNHL

Follow on X:
Chris: https://twitter.com/c__micieli
Zach: https://twitter.com/XavierSuperfly
Show Page: https://twitter.com/LOPN_Avalanche

#NHL #coloradoavalanche
_____________________________________________________________
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
DripDrop
Right now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order.
Go to https://dripdrop.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL.
Indeed
Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/lockedon right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.
Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

Monarch
Take control of your finances with Monarch. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at https://monarch.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.
FanDuel
Download the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)