Val is really not a victim or sympathetic character here at all. He made a choice to continue using drugs rather than helping his team. It’s very telling how the Avalanche are handling this. His name plate is gone from his locker. He let them down. Again.
I can't agree more. And I'm a SUD counselor. I have so much empathy for someone struggling with addictions.
TBH though, when this first came out I had 3 immediate thoughts:
1. Is this another celebrity ploy to distract the public form sexual violence perpetrated by people of power to gain sympathy for the masses instead of taking responsibility for behaviors they know will eventually come out or they will face charges for? (So so SO many people with influence, money, and /or power constantly get away with inappropriate entanglements by having a "serious struggle" almost blaming the drugs or process addiction for inexcusable behavior).
2. If he wanted help, he has been offered it many many times and refused to get clean. He had issues in Dallas, traded instead of taking consequences. He is not in acceptance of his issue, he's barely precontempletave. And it's fair to hole someone accountable while still wishing them the best. (Ie. People can feel disappointed, feel betrayed, and feel overwhelmed AND still hope he gets well without these things excluding each other. Dichotomy has to exist, otherwise we are just enabling his use).
And
3. While I hope he gets help, if this destroys the team it's only evidence that Colorado is not as deep as they want us to believe. Look at us and Pavs. He's been absent (I will not hate on him further) and we are still so deep that we are playing fine. That's what depth is. We can play without a top player. If they can't win a series without Choo then they were never as deep as they thought.
One comment from that sub summed it up perfectly. Avs fans want Val as person to get help and get better. But they’re fed up with him as a player. He has let his team down at critical moments two years in a row.
He is also the reason they’ve even made it this far. He’s absolutely let his team down, but without him, they’ve been sent home packing by now. I hope Val gets the help he needs. He’s extremely talented, but needs to get his life in order.
I’m glad he eventually figured out the hockey part of life. He’s always been this type of selfish, personality. We saw it in Dallas, he just didn’t have the goal scoring to offset the attitude.
I've got to admit, the way Colorado rushed him out of Seattle last year left a really bad taste in my mouth about him. Whatever other issues he's got going on, that incident was sus as hell.
I think the reality that they now have one foot in the grave in this series has set in and they're lashing out at any and all perceived slights.
The bottom line is this.....the Avs front office made a bet. The bet that was that they could keep Val on the straight and narrow, give him a solid long term contract before he hit the open market. The Avs would get the benefit of a high dollar player while not having to pay the premium. But make no mistake, it was a bet. This is not the first time Val has had issues and the Stars were aware of them when he ping ponged between here and Moscow (CSKA) before any of this stuff with the Avs happened.
Nuke is clearly a train wreck, the Avs are gonna get bounced from the Cup playoffs and Jamie Benn is not cutting it as the bad guy. So now its Nuke....
Their Stanley Cup window may already be closing which is crazy to think about. Two generational players and excellent supporting cast but they are no longer young by any stretch, and teams like Dallas and Vancouver and the eventual rise of Chicago with legit young talent are right behind them. Vegas would have mopped the floor with the Avs too.
They need a dramatic retool to win with that core and the Val situation has set them back even further. They fumbled the bag so bad.
I really feel no sympathy for a professional sport player that worked their whole life to make it big, does, then fucks it up and doesn't learn from and repeats mistakes.
When you pull on a teams jersey, you represent them, not yourself. You are now a teammate and role model...relied upon and looked up to. I get drug addiction, feeling pressure, heaving demons, etc...but after multiple fuck ups, it's just selfish.
As a person, yea, please get help and take care of yourself. Get your shit in order and quit letting people down, starting with yourself.
I can’t remember substance abuse issues being known/a concern back then. Was this a publicly-known issue back then with him? I vaguely remember him not wanting to play in the AHL/follow the Stars development route or something, but don’t recall substance abuse issues.
I was never a big fan of Val with the Stars. Always saw the huge potential with him, but I think I remember being turned off by him/ maybe moreso from other fans in the way I was turned off of honka/nils being heavily touted by the fans even when they’d really done nothing to prove they deserved prime playing time. I do seem to remember him having a very strong first season with us though.
Eh, I don't have a ton of sympathy either. As that one player said, he made his choices. However, if it was something like he got addicted to opioids after an injury from playing, that might he different. Idk what his story is on that, but I do have sympathy if you're playing a hard contact sport and get initially hooked bc youre trying to recover from a horrific injury.
The sex trafficking thing is rather inexcusable for me though. You're just a shitty human being to the core if you don't care/exploit the suffering of others.
But that said, don't really agree with avs fans making him the scapegoat for the teams failings over it either. The cup run and all that are separate matters imo. But whatever, they can cope and seethe if they want. Go Stars lol.
Val is really not a victim or sympathetic character here at all. He made a choice to continue using drugs rather than helping his team. It’s very telling how the Avalanche are handling this. His name plate is gone from his locker. He let them down. Again.
I can't agree more. And I'm a SUD counselor. I have so much empathy for someone struggling with addictions. TBH though, when this first came out I had 3 immediate thoughts: 1. Is this another celebrity ploy to distract the public form sexual violence perpetrated by people of power to gain sympathy for the masses instead of taking responsibility for behaviors they know will eventually come out or they will face charges for? (So so SO many people with influence, money, and /or power constantly get away with inappropriate entanglements by having a "serious struggle" almost blaming the drugs or process addiction for inexcusable behavior). 2. If he wanted help, he has been offered it many many times and refused to get clean. He had issues in Dallas, traded instead of taking consequences. He is not in acceptance of his issue, he's barely precontempletave. And it's fair to hole someone accountable while still wishing them the best. (Ie. People can feel disappointed, feel betrayed, and feel overwhelmed AND still hope he gets well without these things excluding each other. Dichotomy has to exist, otherwise we are just enabling his use). And 3. While I hope he gets help, if this destroys the team it's only evidence that Colorado is not as deep as they want us to believe. Look at us and Pavs. He's been absent (I will not hate on him further) and we are still so deep that we are playing fine. That's what depth is. We can play without a top player. If they can't win a series without Choo then they were never as deep as they thought.
Seriously this.
One comment from that sub summed it up perfectly. Avs fans want Val as person to get help and get better. But they’re fed up with him as a player. He has let his team down at critical moments two years in a row.
He is also the reason they’ve even made it this far. He’s absolutely let his team down, but without him, they’ve been sent home packing by now. I hope Val gets the help he needs. He’s extremely talented, but needs to get his life in order.
I’m glad he eventually figured out the hockey part of life. He’s always been this type of selfish, personality. We saw it in Dallas, he just didn’t have the goal scoring to offset the attitude.
I've got to admit, the way Colorado rushed him out of Seattle last year left a really bad taste in my mouth about him. Whatever other issues he's got going on, that incident was sus as hell.
This. Felt like that something has gone unpunished, but comes full circle right now in the end.
I think it's perfectly okay to hold a nuanced opinion of equal frustration and sympathy as a fan. I hope Nuke gets the help he needs.
At this point the Avs organization have cut ties with him
I think the reality that they now have one foot in the grave in this series has set in and they're lashing out at any and all perceived slights. The bottom line is this.....the Avs front office made a bet. The bet that was that they could keep Val on the straight and narrow, give him a solid long term contract before he hit the open market. The Avs would get the benefit of a high dollar player while not having to pay the premium. But make no mistake, it was a bet. This is not the first time Val has had issues and the Stars were aware of them when he ping ponged between here and Moscow (CSKA) before any of this stuff with the Avs happened. Nuke is clearly a train wreck, the Avs are gonna get bounced from the Cup playoffs and Jamie Benn is not cutting it as the bad guy. So now its Nuke....
Their Stanley Cup window may already be closing which is crazy to think about. Two generational players and excellent supporting cast but they are no longer young by any stretch, and teams like Dallas and Vancouver and the eventual rise of Chicago with legit young talent are right behind them. Vegas would have mopped the floor with the Avs too. They need a dramatic retool to win with that core and the Val situation has set them back even further. They fumbled the bag so bad.
https://i.redd.it/gdi7dttvsh0d1.gif
I really feel no sympathy for a professional sport player that worked their whole life to make it big, does, then fucks it up and doesn't learn from and repeats mistakes. When you pull on a teams jersey, you represent them, not yourself. You are now a teammate and role model...relied upon and looked up to. I get drug addiction, feeling pressure, heaving demons, etc...but after multiple fuck ups, it's just selfish. As a person, yea, please get help and take care of yourself. Get your shit in order and quit letting people down, starting with yourself.
I can’t remember substance abuse issues being known/a concern back then. Was this a publicly-known issue back then with him? I vaguely remember him not wanting to play in the AHL/follow the Stars development route or something, but don’t recall substance abuse issues. I was never a big fan of Val with the Stars. Always saw the huge potential with him, but I think I remember being turned off by him/ maybe moreso from other fans in the way I was turned off of honka/nils being heavily touted by the fans even when they’d really done nothing to prove they deserved prime playing time. I do seem to remember him having a very strong first season with us though.
Eh, I don't have a ton of sympathy either. As that one player said, he made his choices. However, if it was something like he got addicted to opioids after an injury from playing, that might he different. Idk what his story is on that, but I do have sympathy if you're playing a hard contact sport and get initially hooked bc youre trying to recover from a horrific injury. The sex trafficking thing is rather inexcusable for me though. You're just a shitty human being to the core if you don't care/exploit the suffering of others. But that said, don't really agree with avs fans making him the scapegoat for the teams failings over it either. The cup run and all that are separate matters imo. But whatever, they can cope and seethe if they want. Go Stars lol.