Former Montreal Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov doesn’t seem to be over his offseason exit from Montreal.
Markov spent his entire NHL career with the Habs, where he racked up 119 goals and 453 assists in 990 games and led the franchise to an Eastern Conference Final appearance in 2014. Things took a turn for the worse between the Canadiens and Markov over the summer, though, after negotiations fell through and both sides agreed to move forward in a different direction. Markov ultimately retired from the NHL and made his way back to Russia to play for the KHL’s Kazan Ak-Bars.
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Markov claims that a deal wasn’t reached as a result of poor communication from the Canadiens’ side. In an interview with Le Journal de Montreal’s Jonathan Bernier, Markov claimed general manager Marc Bergevin showed him no respect.
The following is an excerpt from the Montreal Gazette:
“As an athlete and a person who spent 16 years of my life in Montreal, I would’ve liked that they respected me, that’s all I asked from the team. I’ll be honest with you. There were almost no talks between me and the Canadiens. I received two or three offers from them. They said: ‘You sign or you don’t sign.’ Nobody listened to me and nobody wanted to listen to me.”
The news comes as a bit of a shock when you consider the Russian anchored the blue line for so many years. Markov finished with the second highest point total for Canadiens defenceman last season (36) behind assistant captain Shea Weber (42). The Habs ranked 18th in scoring heading into tonight’s NHL action and could use a boost of offence from their blue-liners. Behind Weber (16), the next leading defenceman is Jeff Petry with an underwhelming 10 points.
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Bergevin has been heavily criticized for multiple blockbuster moves he’s made over the past two offseasons, but could be remembered most for the one he didn’t make. Markov is doing just fine on the other side of the pond, scoring four goals and 15 assists in 39 games. At 38, the former sixth round pick clearly still has gas left in the tank.
(H/T Montreal Gazette)
