Damn that’s pretty damning. The boys are definitely pissed at Nuke
HoodPhones
Dude 100% burned his bridge. They welcome you back after fleeing on them last playoffs, and this is how you repay them?
Ive said it a handful of times tonight, but I wish Val the person the best of luck in fighting whatever demons he has and in his future recovery. However, Val the hockey player needs to not put on this jersey again.
zrdd_man
As a fan, I’m screaming at Val, “How could you do this to us AGAIN!?”
As a person who has more experience dealing with substance abuse/abusers than I care to recall, I’m screaming at Val, “Why on Earth didn’t you take advantage of all the resources made available to you as a professional athlete/wealthy person??”
As an observer of it all, I’m screaming at the Avs front office, “How the HELL did you allow an employee to tragically fall back into this same horrible situation at this point in the season after what you allowed basically the same thing to happen last year?!”
It’s all incredibly frustrating and horribly depressing as a fan. I love this team to death, but obviously some serious changes need to be made going forward. I’m not talking about what to do with Val… he’s gone. 🙁
I’m talking about how this organization chooses to move forward from this disaster and chooses (or not) to avoid the next one.
We can’t allow this kind of thing to happen again. The players, staff, and us fans all deserve better.
Routine_Bed_5867
Really upsetting to see someone who has everything in life just throw it away. Generational wealth, a household name amongst Avs fans, a wife, a new daughter.
I hope he gets the help he needs but that’s where the sympathy ends. He’s fucked this team 2 years in a row, let down the fans, his friends and his family yet again. He has all the resources in the world to fix this, and the financial backing most of us can only dream of, and he’s thrown it all away. $20,000 would change my shitty life, but here’s dude throwing away millions for (presumably) some drugs that will make you feel like shit 4 hours later when you are coming down. Fun.
The avs played about like I felt, down trodden and already beaten.
Maaglin
A year too late.
MettaLOB
This sums it up for me. I honestly don’t care that he disappointed the fans, but I do care that he disappointed and let down his teammates and coaches. The boys needed him and he goes and does something like this to completely shift the mindset of these playoffs. Very disheartening he did that to the locker room. I really hope he will get the help me he needs cause addiction is a true struggle, but that should be the last time he puts on an Avs jersey.
daishi777
The longer I think about this the more irritated I get.
Cogliano, Praise, Jack Johnson. They don’t have a ton of years left. Val rob them of two playoff runs.
vinnymendoza09
How is Sakic not literally bugging Val’s room and having a guy follow him around making sure he doesn’t relapse. Christ.
I’m only partially kidding here, the only thing that stopped my good friend from relapsing was being in a monitored facility. Now he’s doing much better. Addiction is terrible.
mitch-dubz
Avs fans: “Keep Drouin on the team!”- Monkey paw closes a finger.
texicali74
It’s the Johnsons and the Parises that you feel for the most. Older guys, could be their last Cup run, and then this happens. But who knows? They may very well have lost anyway. Other than the 3rd period and OT in game 1, they haven’t looked like the better team in this series, even with Nichushkin.
fastmovingcars
Great comment by true professional, Jack Johnson. I’m sorry JJ, I hope your ride into the sunset is beautiful.
Magical_Badboy
Addiction isn’t black and white like so many of you are making it out to be.
TheSwex
Yeah I ain’t blaming Val for the playoff collapse. He’s part of it sure. But the team was playing like they didn’t want to be there even before it happened.
frostyjack06
Exactly, Jack. Val is a grown ass man and fully knows he has a problem, he’s acknowledged as much by continuing to go into the player assistance program. It’s his responsibility to seek the help he needs to get clean and perform his job at the level a professional hockey player should be playing at. Addiction doesn’t magically go away after a single stint in rehab, it’s a lifelong battle, and I’m sure he’s heard that line time and time again. And rehab doesn’t work if you don’t take the lessons and tools they give you seriously. He knows what he needed to do and he made his choice.
dieseldawg95
If he does come back sober and healthy in 6 months, would you rather keep him or trade him? I’d bet there’s a team out there that would make that trade.
A healthy Nuke is a monster, but keeping him would probably disrupt chemistry and then of course you risk him relapsing. If you trade him, you probably don’t get great value back, but at least you can use his cap space on a valuable piece.
verysadcolin
Armchair coaches and gms I can deal with, that’s just the nature of being a sports fan, but it’s really pissing me the fuck off that I’m seeing so many armchair addiction counselors. See you all next year.
Onuus
I feel real bad for Val. Terrible decision, obviously. But addiction fucking sucks and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
17 Comments
Damn that’s pretty damning. The boys are definitely pissed at Nuke
Dude 100% burned his bridge. They welcome you back after fleeing on them last playoffs, and this is how you repay them?
Ive said it a handful of times tonight, but I wish Val the person the best of luck in fighting whatever demons he has and in his future recovery. However, Val the hockey player needs to not put on this jersey again.
As a fan, I’m screaming at Val, “How could you do this to us AGAIN!?”
As a person who has more experience dealing with substance abuse/abusers than I care to recall, I’m screaming at Val, “Why on Earth didn’t you take advantage of all the resources made available to you as a professional athlete/wealthy person??”
As an observer of it all, I’m screaming at the Avs front office, “How the HELL did you allow an employee to tragically fall back into this same horrible situation at this point in the season after what you allowed basically the same thing to happen last year?!”
It’s all incredibly frustrating and horribly depressing as a fan. I love this team to death, but obviously some serious changes need to be made going forward. I’m not talking about what to do with Val… he’s gone. 🙁
I’m talking about how this organization chooses to move forward from this disaster and chooses (or not) to avoid the next one.
We can’t allow this kind of thing to happen again. The players, staff, and us fans all deserve better.
Really upsetting to see someone who has everything in life just throw it away. Generational wealth, a household name amongst Avs fans, a wife, a new daughter.
I hope he gets the help he needs but that’s where the sympathy ends. He’s fucked this team 2 years in a row, let down the fans, his friends and his family yet again. He has all the resources in the world to fix this, and the financial backing most of us can only dream of, and he’s thrown it all away. $20,000 would change my shitty life, but here’s dude throwing away millions for (presumably) some drugs that will make you feel like shit 4 hours later when you are coming down. Fun.
The avs played about like I felt, down trodden and already beaten.
A year too late.
This sums it up for me. I honestly don’t care that he disappointed the fans, but I do care that he disappointed and let down his teammates and coaches. The boys needed him and he goes and does something like this to completely shift the mindset of these playoffs. Very disheartening he did that to the locker room. I really hope he will get the help me he needs cause addiction is a true struggle, but that should be the last time he puts on an Avs jersey.
The longer I think about this the more irritated I get.
Cogliano, Praise, Jack Johnson. They don’t have a ton of years left. Val rob them of two playoff runs.
How is Sakic not literally bugging Val’s room and having a guy follow him around making sure he doesn’t relapse. Christ.
I’m only partially kidding here, the only thing that stopped my good friend from relapsing was being in a monitored facility. Now he’s doing much better. Addiction is terrible.
Avs fans: “Keep Drouin on the team!”-
Monkey paw closes a finger.
It’s the Johnsons and the Parises that you feel for the most. Older guys, could be their last Cup run, and then this happens. But who knows? They may very well have lost anyway. Other than the 3rd period and OT in game 1, they haven’t looked like the better team in this series, even with Nichushkin.
Great comment by true professional, Jack Johnson. I’m sorry JJ, I hope your ride into the sunset is beautiful.
Addiction isn’t black and white like so many of you are making it out to be.
Yeah I ain’t blaming Val for the playoff collapse. He’s part of it sure. But the team was playing like they didn’t want to be there even before it happened.
Exactly, Jack. Val is a grown ass man and fully knows he has a problem, he’s acknowledged as much by continuing to go into the player assistance program. It’s his responsibility to seek the help he needs to get clean and perform his job at the level a professional hockey player should be playing at. Addiction doesn’t magically go away after a single stint in rehab, it’s a lifelong battle, and I’m sure he’s heard that line time and time again. And rehab doesn’t work if you don’t take the lessons and tools they give you seriously. He knows what he needed to do and he made his choice.
If he does come back sober and healthy in 6 months, would you rather keep him or trade him? I’d bet there’s a team out there that would make that trade.
A healthy Nuke is a monster, but keeping him would probably disrupt chemistry and then of course you risk him relapsing. If you trade him, you probably don’t get great value back, but at least you can use his cap space on a valuable piece.
Armchair coaches and gms I can deal with, that’s just the nature of being a sports fan, but it’s really pissing me the fuck off that I’m seeing so many armchair addiction counselors. See you all next year.
I feel real bad for Val. Terrible decision, obviously. But addiction fucking sucks and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.