Habs to Honour Andrei Markov This Season

Markov spent his entire 990-game NHL career playing for the Canadiens, where he served as one of the top players on the team for 17 seasons. He is still best known to be the power-play quarterback on some of the best Habs power-play teams in recent memory during the mid-2000s. During his prime years, the defenseman regularly registered 40 assists by being a quarterback to the power-play.

Even when the Canadiens lost the booming shot of Sheldon Souray which was the main reason of the summer of 2007, Markov was able to lead the Canadiens to have a top 5 power-play alongside Alex Kovalev and Mark Streit. The team’s power-play was a huge reason that the Habs finished first in the East during the 2007-08 season.

Markov’s best season came during the 2008-09 Canadiens Centennial season, where the Russian put up a career-high 52 assists and 64 points. That year was also the one time he was named to the NHL All-Star game.

The next season, he was expected to put up similar numbers and challenge for the Norris Trophy, but due to an ankle he missed nearly half the season and then got hurt again in the playoffs. This forced Markov to only play 7 games in the 2010-11 season because of only returning in December and then injuring his knee this time, keeping him sidelined for the rest of that season. He came back to only play 13 games during the 2011-12 season as a result of his knee injury.

Luckily for him, that was the end of the injuries and he managed to come back as a reliable 2-way defenseman who maybe wasn’t as fast as before but his hockey IQ allowed him to still be a star player for the Habs over the last 5 seasons of his career.

Markov finished his career with 119 goals, 453 assists and 572 points in 990 games with the Habs. His games played  and assists are the 2nd most among defensemen in Habs history, meanwhile his 572 points is tied for 2nd with legendary Guy Lapointe.

Unlike the guys his numbers are comparable with in Canadiens history, his number will not end up being retired because he didn’t play in an era where the team won multiple Stanley Cups. It’s not his fault and he may have put up more points if he played during that era. Nonetheless, he is among one of the greatest Habs defenseman in team history and he will finally get his night to be honoured on December 3rd. It is still a shame that injuries and not getting that final contract prevented him from hitting an awesome milestone like 1000 career games.

Will you be at the Bell Centre the night of December 3rd to honour Markov?

Check out all of the Montreal Canadiens promotional nights for this upcoming season by clicking here.