The Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired right wing Valeri Nichushkin from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick (43rd overall from St. Louis via Pittsburgh), and Columbus’s third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft and fifth-round pick in 2028, club President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don Waddell announced today.
Nichushkin, 31, has registered 154 goals and 203 assists for 357 points, 112 penalty minutes, 41 power play goals, 24 game-winning goals and six shorthanded tallies with a cumulative +109 plus/minus rating on 16:25 of ice time in 627 career games over 11 NHL campaigns with the Avalanche and Dallas Stars. In 72 outings this past season, he collected 17-32-49, 26 PIM and was +9, while averaging 17:44 time on ice.
“Valeri is a big, strong forward who skates exceptionally well, can score goals, win puck battles and doesn’t shy away from playing in the hard areas,” said Waddell. “He is an accomplished two-way player who competes at a high level and we are very excited to welcome him to the Blue Jackets family.”
The 6-4, 210-pound native of Chelyabinsk, Russia also has appeared in 91 career games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, tallying 28-15-43 with 26 PIM, six PP goals and four game-winners in nine postseasons. He racked up a career-high 9-6-15 in 20 games to help Colorado capture the 2022 Stanley Cup championship.
Nichushkin (pronounced nih-CHOOSH-kihn) was selected by Dallas in the first round, 10th overall, at the 2013 NHL Draft. He tallied 14-20-34, 8 PIM and was +20 in 79 games as a rookie in 2013-14 and went on to notch 23-51-74, 22 PIM and a +13 plus/minus rating in 223 games with the Stars between 2013-19. During that time, he spent the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons playing with CSKA in the KHL.
He signed with Colorado as a free agent in August 2019 and racked up 131-152-283, 90 PIM, 985 shots with a cumulative +96 plus/minus rating in 404 games with the Avalanche. Over his seven seasons with Colorado, he ranked fourth on the club in goals, points and shots, fifth in plus/minus rating and sixth in assists. He scored 17 or more goals in each of the past five seasons and tallied 40 or more points four times during that span with three 20-goal and two 50-point campaigns. He tallied a career-high 28-25-53 in 54 games in 2023-24. In 2021-22, he collected 25-27-52 in 62 outings and led all players in goals with four during the Stanley Cup Final that year.
