Valeri Nichushkin plans to rejoin the Colorado Avalanche for the start of the 2023-24 season after leaving the team during the playoffs, sources told The Denver Post.

The team expects Nichushkin to be back for the start of training camp in September.

Nichushkin last played in Game 2 of Colorado’s first-round playoff series, scoring the tying goal in a 3-2 win over the Kraken. On April 23, the day of Game 3 in Seattle, an intoxicated woman was found in Nichushkin’s hotel room, causing a team doctor to call for an ambulance to take her to a hospital, according to a Seattle Police Department report.

Nichushkin left Seattle the day of the incident and did not play in Game 3 or the remainder of the series, which the Avalanche lost in seven games. There was no criminal investigation stemming from the incident, according to Seattle PD, and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Nichushkin was also not under investigation by the league. The Avalanche declined to comment, saying Nichushkin’s absence was due to personal reasons and was not disciplinary.

“We know exactly what happened, and we think it was handled appropriately (by the team),” Daly told reporters in Las Vegas before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 3.

Nichushkin is one season into an eight-year contract that runs through 2029-30, with an average annual value of $6.125 million. He scored 17 goals and 47 points in 53 games last season, missing stretches due to an off-and-on ankle injury.

“He was a very important part of our team in the past,” Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said after the season, “and that’s our hope, that he’s going to be a very important part of our team in the future, for sure.”