NHL officially responds to the Valeri Nichushkin controversy.

The National Hockey League has been dealing with somewhat of a mysterious controversy for several weeks now, one that has been lingering ever since Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin took a leave of absence in the middle of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Nichushkin was involved in a bizarre incident with an unidentified woman at a hotel in Seattle on April 22nd, coincidently the same day that the Avalanche were scheduled to face the Kraken in Game 3 of their first round Stanley Cup playoff series. We know that law enforcement were called to the scene and the woman can be heard claiming that her passport has been stolen by a "bad man" on recently released police body cam footage.

In spite of the fact that a player was forced to leave in the middle of a playoff series the NHL has been very quiet on this issue, but over the weekend NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly faced the media, and the topic of Nichushkin was once again brought to the forefront.

When asked about what appears to be a potentially serious incident, Bill Daly merely laughed off the entire situation.

"There's no ongoing investigation of the Nichushkin incident," said Daly on Saturday. "We know exactly what happened. It was handled appropriately both at the club level and I think at the league level. He's eligible to play in the league."

You can hear Bill Daly's response in his own words at the 50 second mark of the short clip below.