Valeri Nichushkin signs eight-year, $49 million contract with Colorado Avalanche

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Forward Valeri Nichushkin is staying put with the Stanley Cup champion Avalanche. He signed an eight-year, $49 million contract with Colorado. He spent the past three years with the Avs and is coming off a season in which he had a career-best 25 goals and 52 points in 62 games in the regular season before adding nine and six in the playoffs.

Nichushkin's signing overshadowed several other roster-related developments on Monday, with teams having until the afternoon to determine whether to issue qualifying offers and retain the rights to their restricted free agents.

Valeri Nichushkin #13 of the Colorado Avalanche gives a puck to a young fan prior to Game One of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Ball Arena on June 15, 2022. Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images

One of those decisions involved the Avalanche, with forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel going from celebrating with the Stanley Cup on Saturday to not receiving a qualifying offer from Colorado.

Aube-Kubel, 26, has four seasons of NHL experience and was claimed by Colorado after being waived by the Philadelphia Flyers in November. He had 11 goals and 22 points in 67 regular-season games for the Avalanche, and had no points in 14 playoff games.