You’re right: Val Nichushkin doesn’t owe the scribes anything. It’s his life. It’s his $49 million. It’s his name on the Stanley Cup.
Look, we’ll be honest. The kids on the Grading The Week staff have got some trust issues with you, Chu Chu Train. And do you blame us? Seattle left a scar.
Family reasons? Fair enough. But even if nothing untoward happened in that hotel, everything during and after the big Avs forward’s sudden departure from the team last spring during a hotly-contested first-round playoff series with the Kraken was so nuclear, and so hush-hush, that it led the public, and reporters, to presume — and to assume — the worst.