Kevin Stevens doesn’t have to ride shotgun on the Valeri Nichushkin train, mind you. But he’d love it if Avalanche fans saved him a seat.
“It’s always great to see someone thrive when you know what he’s been through,” the former Pittsburgh Penguins great texted me Sunday after Nichushkin’s first career NHL hat trick helped the Avs stomp Winnipeg 5-1. “Not easy, but he is doing it. Great to see.”
He’s never met Big Val. He’s rooting like crazy for him. One grew up in Massachusetts (Stevens), the other near the Miass River (Nichushkin). But as players and narratives, the parallels are more than a little uncanny.
Three decades ago, Stevens was — well, Val. Sort of. The ex-Boston College star became the archetype of the NHL power forward, that rare combination of a big body (6-foot-3, 220 pounds), Downy-soft hands and blazing speed. Mother of all matchup problems.
The defenders who could catch him in open ice couldn’t keep him from camping out on the crease. The ones who could bump him often wound up sucking vapor from his comet trail.
Over a five-year stretch from 1989 to ’94, Stevens logged at least 80 points four different times, went to four All-Star games and won back-to-back Stanley Cups in ’91 and ’92.
Like Nichushkin, he played left wing on a line with one of the greatest centers of his generation — Mario Lemieux then, Nathan MacKinnon now. Like Val, he’s beaten some demons, only to be pinned by others.
A collision with defenseman Rich Pilon in May 1993 rearranged his face and caused brain damage that would tear his career and personal life asunder. In and out of rehab. In and out of rosters. In and out of relationships. In and out of jail.
“Nobody understands addiction until you’re in it,” said Stevens, now a scout with the Penguins. “I didn’t know that I had addictive genes in my body. I didn’t do a single drug until I was 28 years old. I knew that painkillers could make me feel better. I didn’t know it was something I was going to get stuck on.”
He’s been sober since 2016. Stevens is paying his darkest days forward, having created with his sister Kelli Wilson the “Power Forward” foundation, an organization that helps fight addiction through empowerment, education and innovation.
“The biggest thing for me was realizing how big it really is,” Stevens said. “For me to stay sober, I needed to have other sober people in my life. I had to commit to going to meetings. … The one thing you can’t do is, you can’t be alone. And you can’t sit there and have the thing where your head’s going a million miles per hour. I’d want to drink. I want to do that. That’s the hardest thing — you’re just trying to survive out there.”
So Val’s journey hits awfully close to home, on several fronts. Stevens is also a veteran of the NHL/NHLPA assistance program that Nichushkin spent a month in earlier this year, from roughly mid-January through mid-February.
“I’m pulling for him,” Stevens said. “And I know one thing: that he’s a great player and I wish him the best, because whenever I see someone (coming out of the program), I know what it’s all about. I know how he’s feeling.”
Heading into Game 5, with the Avs leading the series 3-1? On top of the world. The best player on a line with MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen flanking you.
The Chu-Chu Train had everything working Sunday, using that monster-truck frame and watchmaker’s touch for a tip off a power-play laser from Cale Makar that put the Avs up 2-1. His second, cleaning up a rebound before Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck knew what hit him, made it 4-1 — putting Winnipeg a game away from elimination and sending Bucky to the bench after just 40 minutes. Whiteout City waved the white flag.
“He could do that any night,” winger Andrew Cogliano told me while Big Val, who declined to talk to reporters, shared a fist-pump at his locker with Avs GM Chris McFarland.
“He’s just a really good player. He’s tough to play against. When you put Mikko and Nate on the same line, it’s tough to handle. So that’s probably the best line you’re going to find. When he’s playing like he was, like he can, it’s tough to handle — especially on that line.”
Preach, brother. Six-foot-4 with six gears (Nichushkin), 6-foot with seven gears (MacKinnon), 6-4 with six gears (Rantanen)? Welcome to the party, pal. Best of luck. The Jets couldn’t skate with these guys, so they stabbed, poked, swung and flailed.
The Avs landed four power-play opportunities in Game 4. It should’ve been more. For 35 minutes and change, Winnipeg clutched at sweaters while the refs clutched at straws. Midway through the second stanza, MacKinnon got to walk a mile in Nikola Jokic’s bruise, getting wacked in the face by the Jets’ Neal Pionk as he was camping out behind the net. No call.
And, in the end, no problem.
“Val’s a guy that, if you’re going to win a Stanley Cup, you’re going to need him,” Stevens continued. “He’s a great player. He’s a unique player in this league. Not many realize that he’s a big ox out there, a guy that scores goals in front of the net. When you get one, you want to keep one.”