Seattle police stated that a “severely intoxicated” woman had to be taken to a hospital after she was found in the hotel room of Colorado Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin last Saturday, according to Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times. Around the very same time, Nichushkin disappeared from the team without any explanation.
The Avalanche previously said that Nichushkin left town before the team’s game against the Seattle Kraken that evening, but didn’t reveal any reason why. Colorado did say that Nichushkin’s absence had nothing to do with a legal matter, but declined to say whether or not he would play again during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Nichushkin hasn’t played since Game 2 of the series last Thursday.
According to The Seattle Times, a police report stated that a patrol car was called to the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle “to assist with a behavioral crisis call” on Saturday and found the 28-year old woman in an ambulance.
Avalanche team physician Dr. Bradley Changstrom told police that multiple team employees went to Nichushkin’s hotel room and found the woman “in the room heavily intoxicated from an unidentified substance,” according to the police report.
“He believed that she was too intoxicated to have left the hotel in a ride share or cab service,” so Changstrom called 911,” the report read.
Changstrom revealed that the woman struck him, but he wasn’t planning on pressing charges.
According to the police report, the woman told police that she was from Russia but was born in Ukraine. She also stated that she “should never have come to the United States and that some guy took her passport and that he was a bad person.”
It’s unclear if the 28-year-old woman was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. She was taken to Virginia Mason Medical Center “for being a danger to others due to her assaultive behavior and gravely disabled for being so intoxicated to a point that she is unable to care for herself out in public.”
Nichushkin scored a goal in Game 2, which tied the game 2-2 at the 7:30 mark of the second period. During the regular season, the 28-year-old forward scored 17 goals and dished out 30 assists in 53 games.
