Montreal Canadiens: Weighing The Pros and Cons of Bringing Back Andrei Markov
The Montreal Canadiens allowed Andrei Markov to leave town two years ago. Is it time to make things right by bringing him back? Or has that ship sailed?
The Montreal Canadiens have had a long list of great defencemen in their storied history. There have been a dozen former Canadiens defenceman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Five of them, Butch Bouchard, Doug Harvey, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard and Larry Robinson have had their numbers retired by the team.
Six different Habs defenders have won the James Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenceman. When the Vezina Trophy was awarded to the goaltender that allowed the fewest goals, having a good defence in front of them was important and the Habs goaltenders won that award 24 times between 1926 and 1981.
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So, there is no denying that there have been a plethora of great defenders patrolling the Montreal Canadiens blue line over the years.
One of the finest to do so in the past three decades was Andrei Markov. The Russian was a sixth round draft pick of the Habs back in 1998. He played two more seasons in Russia before moving to North America and then spent two seasons being shipped back and forth between the NHL and the AHL.
By the time the 2001-02 season was winding down, he had proven himself to be a capable NHL defenceman. Though he helped the Canadiens upset a heavily favoured Boston Bruins squad in the postseason in 2002 and 2004, he really began to make his mark after the 2004-05 lockout.
Markov became one of the deadliest weapons on the power play in the NHL in the 2005-06 season and that trait stuck with him for over a decade. He scored over 40 points on seven different occasions between 2006 and 2016 and would have done it three more times if not for injuries and yet another lockout.
His best season came in 2008-09 when he scored 12 goals and added 52 assists for 64 points in 78 games. Unfortunately for Markov and Habs fans everywhere, he was injured late in that centennial season and missed the playoffs. He was injured for much of the next three seasons but returned in 2013 and was just as effective, scoring 30 points in 48 games.
Markov has played 990 career NHL games, all with the Canadiens. He is tied for the second most points by a Habs defenceman with 572, though Guy Lapointe has scored more goals so he technically gets the tiebreaker.
The former Canadien is currently in Montreal and hoping for another contract to play with the Habs. There are pros and cons to bringing back a beloved Habs player, so let’s take a look to see if it would be wise for Marc Bergevin to sign Markov to a contract for next season.