Former Canadiens Received A Hero’s Welcome

June 2017, Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin is under a cap crunch and lets it be known that he can only sign one of his two Russian free agents. He tells the press, the money’s there for the first one who decides to sign. As you probably remember, the two free agents were long time Canadiens Andrei Markov and fan favourite Alex Radulov.

A few days later, free agency opens and Radulov signs a 5-year pact with the Dallas Stars while Markov refuses to sign the contract Bergevin offers him. Asked if he expected loyalty from Radulov, he replies:

If you want loyalty, get a dog.

This is probably the GM’s most memorable quote and not for the right reasons. At the time Markov had played for the Canadiens for 16 years and skated in 990 contests. You can’t get much more loyal than that. Still, the unrepresented player cannot reach an agreement with Bergevin, and decides to head back to Russia.

Markov was 10 games away from the 1000-game milestone and the traditional silver stick, a stone’s throw away but because of the turn the negotiations took, he never reached it.

Last night, for the first time since the Canadiens were eliminate in the first round of the 2017 playoffs by the New York Rangers in six games, the General was back where he belonged, in the Bell Centre. There was no on ice tribute, no big fuss, just a short video montage during a TV timeout and an ovation from the crowd.

The talented blueliner got a hero’s welcome, as he should have really. In his 990 games with the Tricolore, Markov put up 572 points (119 goals and 453 assists), which ties him up with Guy Lapointe, Pointu, for the second most in franchise history. 311 points behind offensive juggernaut Larry Robinson, Big Bird, who holds first place having played 1202 games with the CH and 125 points in front of third place defenseman legendary Doug Harvey. Who rounds up the top five? That’s right, the Senateur, Serge Savard with 412 points.

A fantastic group of blueliner and Markov thoroughly deserves his place amongst them, and yet, in a sense, he’s the odd-man out. Their numbers 2, 5, 18 and 19 are all in the rafters, but Markov’s 79 is not. Why? Because they won Stanley Cups and he didn’t. Is that fair or logical? Those four rearguards, as good as they were, played on insanely strong Canadiens teams. Markov did not. He had the support of a world class goaltender in Carey Price, but he didn’t have much else. Montreal didn’t have offensive stars to fill up the net.

In that sense, his production is even more impressive, just think how many points he could have had if he had played with the likes of Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Maurice and Henri Richard? The four above mentioned blueliners played in the Canadiens’ golden years, when they were actually a dynasty. Markov played in the Canadiens’ dark age, after a rookie GM had traded away franchise cornerstone Patrick Roy and offensive talents such as Vincent Damphousse, Mark Recchi and Pierre Turgeon.

Related: Canadiens: Tremblay Lit the Match, Houle Was Taken for a Ride…

One could easily argue that Markov has marked the Canadiens’ history and deserves to be honoured as such. There should be room in the rafters for number 79. It makes no sense whatsoever that Turgeon, Rechhi or Shea Weber, who had the best moments in their career elsewhere, be on the Bell Centre wall on the Ring of Honour (a tribute the Canadiens pay to their former players who have entered the Hockey Hall of Fame), while Markov is nowhere to be seen.

Related: Canadiens: The Forgotten Greats

Without his poised and hockey IQ, the Canadiens struggled for years, they missed their puck moving quarterback, the man who always performed no matter what happened. The mobility he lost over the years because of knee injuries, he made up for in hockey understanding, elite decision making and just elite hockey sense.

Markov is a modest man, it was hard for the Canadiens to even convinced him to be introduced on the scoreboard, he doesn’t like the spotlight, but that’s not the point. For a team that prides itself so much on its history, it’s unacceptable not to have a chapter on Markov. Hopefully, one day, the organization realizes this and send 79 up to the rafters, just like 31 really, that too should come in time, Stanley Cup or not.

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