1. Andrei Markov
Andrei Markov was a sixth round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 1998. He made his NHL debut in the 2000-01 season and was with the Canadiens until the 2016-17 campaign. He fell just ten games short of making it to 1000 with the Habs.
In that long stretch of time, Markov proved to be arguably the best defenceman this team has seen since the “Big Three” were in town in the 1970’s. He was an offensive defenceman that had no trouble at all defending his own territory when required.
Following the lockout of 2004-05, Markov was one of the most dangerous power play quarterbacks in the league. He could carry the puck up ice and set things up in the opposing zone. He could feed perfect passes across the blue line to either Sheldon Souray or Mark Streit, making both of them quite wealthy men in the process. He could also find Kovalev on the far wing, or just sneak in the backdoor and bury a power play goal himself.
His best season came in 2008-09 when he scored 12 goals and 64 points. After losing Souray and Streit to free agency the previous two years, Markov was switch to his off side on the man advantage, but it just led to him scoring more points.
He played 78 games that year but an injury late in the season led to several knee surgeries, resulting in Markov missing most of the next three seasons. When he finally returned to play full time, he scored ten goals and 30 points in 48 games during the lockout shortened 2013 season.
He wasn’t quite back to his former self, but seasons of 43, 50 and 44 points followed while Markov was moving into his late-thirties.
During his 990 game career, Markov scored 119 goals and 572 points with the Canadiens. He trails only Larry Robinson when it comes to career goals and points by a Habs defenceman.
Not bad for a guy whose head coach that he had for half his career apparently hated him because he was born in Voskresensk.