- Valeri Nichushkin says teammates embellish Nathan MacKinnon’s reputation for riding the room
- The winger spent seven seasons on MacKinnon’s Avalanche and never saw him get on anyone
- Read below for what Nichushkin said about the MacKinnon diet stories
Valeri Nichushkin spent seven years in the same room as Nathan MacKinnon, and he thinks the stories about MacKinnon riding his teammates have gotten away from the truth.
RB Sport asked him about the split opinion on MacKinnon, whether the Colorado captain pushes linemates too hard or whether the effect is purely positive.
“It seems to me the guys embellish his demandingness a bit. He is growing up too, and he controls his emotions better now. In all seven years I never once saw him get on anybody. What they said about the food, those are all fables.”
That last line goes after a specific piece of Avalanche lore, the idea that MacKinnon polices what his linemates put on their plates. Nichushkin says it never happened.
His comments land in the middle of a live argument. Hockey journalist Jimmy Murphy said earlier this month that MacKinnon was visibly reeling into teammates on the bench and on the ice during the playoffs.
The version from inside the room is a lot quieter. Nichushkin was asked what kind of leader MacKinnon actually is day to day.
“First and foremost he is a leader because of his play, not his tongue. I definitely would not call him a talker. Our room was pretty quiet. We just worked, did our job, and everyone knew their role.”
He added that when someone on that team did speak up, people listened, because nobody on the Avalanche was talking just to hear himself.
The season that started all of this was a strange one. Colorado went 55-16-11 for 121 points and the Presidents’ Trophy, MacKinnon won his first Rocket Richard with 53 goals, and then Vegas swept the Avalanche out of the Western Conference Final.
Take a look at all 53 of those goals:
Nichushkin saw the end of that run from a different address. Colorado shipped him to Columbus on June 25 for a 2026 second-round pick, a 2027 third and a 2028 fifth, clearing his $6.125 million cap hit before extensions for Cale Makar and Artturi Lehkonen.
He leaves Denver with 131 goals and 283 points in 404 games, plus 27 goals in 74 playoff appearances and a ring from 2022.
There is a Russian ending in mind, too. Nichushkin told RB Sport he would love to finish where he started, with Traktor in Chelyabinsk, though he pointed out he is only 31 and has four years left on the Columbus deal before that becomes a real question.
