Stars winger Valeri Nichushkin is quoted this week on the Russian news site Sport-Express saying he is disenchanted with his playing time and opportunity for offense with Dallas, but his agent Mark Gandler said the 21-year-old winger is only frustrated with himself.

Nichushkin spoke to reporter Igor Rabiner in San Jose Saturday, and Rabiner posted a Q&A in Russian. According to Google Translate, Nichushkin said he feels he is not trusted by coach Lindy Ruff, that he feels he should be playing more minutes, and that he's frustrated by his lack of ice time and scoring.

Gandler said the quotes do not reflect Nichushkin's true feelings.

"He is frustrated, but he is frustrated with himself," Gandler said. "He wants to score more, and he knows he's getting chances and he wants to put the puck in. I think that is natural for him."

Gandler said the interviewer caught Nichushkin Saturday after a game in which he did not play many minutes. In a penalty-filled game, Nichushkin played 11:30 as the Stars beat San Jose 4-2.

"Val can go from 0 to 100 emotionally, and this was right after a game and he was frustrated," Gandler said. "But he can also go from 100 to 0. I don't think he even knew what was said in the interview. I know he was going to talk to Lindy Ruff and Jim Nill today."

Nichushkin is in his third season in the NHL, but missed most of last season with hip surgery. He has nine goals and 18 assists for 27 points in 73 games.

"He had great first season (14 goals, 20 assists) and this is really just his second season, and he wanted to score more," Gandler said. "But he is just 21 and he is just in his second season. It takes time."

Ruff said he thinks Nichushkin has been playing well.

"I didn't read the article," Ruff said. "I think right now that Val is in a good place."

Asked about dealing with players who are frustrated by lack of playing time, Ruff said it's not an uncommon problem for coaches.

"I don't know a player that doesn't want more minutes," Ruff said. "I think that you deal with that as a coach all the time and you understand it. And you understand that players get frustrated, it's OK to be frustrated sometimes."

Nichushkin can become a restricted free agent in the summer. Gandler said he wanted to keep any talk between him and Stars general manager Jim Nill and he said he wanted Nichushkin to be concentrating on the playoffs.

"I don't want to say much about contracts," Gandler said, "but I can tell you that Val loves it in Dallas. He's very happy there."

Twitter: @MikeHeika