Valeri Nichushkin

History

2010-11: Valeri Nichushkin played for Traktor Chelyabinsk's U18 team and represented Russia in the U16 Four Nations Tournament. He scored 45 goals with 45 assists and had 30 penalty minutes in 46 games for Traktor during the regular season and had 1 goal and 1 assist in six games as Chelyabinsk finished third in the Russian U18 championship. Nichushkin was scoreless in two games at the Four Nations Tournament.

2011-12: Nichushkin played for Belie Medvedi in Russia's U22 MHL as a 16-year-old and represented Russia in three international tournaments. In 38 MHL games he scored 4 goals with 6 assists and was minus-10 with 6 penalty minutes. Nichushkin scored 3 goals with 3 assists (second only to Grigori Dikushin who had nine points) for Russia's gold medal-winning team at the U17 World Hockey Challenge. In four games at the U19 World Junior A Challenge he was scoreless with 2 penalty minutes and he scored 2 goals and was plus-one for Russia at the U18 World Junior Championship.

2012-13: Nichushkin made his KHL debut as a 17-year old; splitting the season between Traktor Chelyabinsk and its second club Chelmet. He also appeared in nine games for the Belie Medvedi junior team and represented Russia in both the Subway Series against Canadian junior all-stars and at the 2013 World Junior Championship in Ufa. In 18 regular season games he scored 4 goals with 2 assists and had 6 goals with 2 assists in 19 playoff games. Nichushkin scored 8 goals with 2 assists in 15 VHL games for Chelmet and had 4 goals and 4 assists in nine games for Belie Medvedi. In six games for bronze medal-winning Russia at the WJC he scored 1 goal with 1 assist and was plus-five with 25 penalty minutes. Nichushkin was ranked fourth amongst European skaters in Central Scouting's mid-term rankings prior to the 2013 NHL Draft, and second in the CSS final rankings.