Todd: Andrei Markov's stick did his talking during superb run with Canadiens

1 / 4 century in the past, Russia was a wierd and tough place.

Once I was there to analysis a sequence on Russian hockey in winter 1999, mighty Russia was on its knees. The ruble had collapsed the earlier August. On each road nook, younger girls bought themselves to outlive. Their older sisters and moms and grandmothers stood within the snow promoting what they needed to promote — cracked image frames and damaged lamps.

It was the very temporary interval between the large tyranny of communism and the large tyranny of ex-KGB thug Vladimir Putin. The Russian economic system was in tatters, however hope that the nation would possibly grow to be a functioning, enlightened democracy was at an all-time excessive.

What emerged as a substitute was the Wild West, with rival mobsters murdering one another at a fee that will put Prohibition Chicago to disgrace and bankers who refused to launder their soiled cash gunned down on the streets.

This was Andrei Markov’s Russia. The place the place he grew up. A world all however unimaginable to Canadian dad and mom driving Janey and Johnny to hockey apply at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, a world that was horrifying and engaging in equal measure.

Whereas in Moscow, I keyed on three younger gamers for the Dynamo Moscow group who had all been drafted by NHL groups: the flashy ahead Maxim Afinogenov, drafted 69th total by the Buffalo Sabres in 1997, energy ahead Nik Antropov, taken tenth total in 1998 by the Maple Leafs, and Andrei Markov, drafted 162nd total by the Canadiens in ’98.

All three would have strong NHL careers, however it was Markov, the quiet man, who would stand out as probably the greatest defencemen of his time, the one who made his defence companions wealthy. Markov, as you certainly know by now, performed 990 video games and notched 199 objectives and 453 assists, all for the Canadiens — sufficient to say his place among the many pantheon of Montreal defencemen with Doug Harvey, J.C. Tremblay, Serge Savard, Man Lapointe and Larry Robinson. Anybody who noticed him play between 2001 and 2017 will always remember the refined, heads-up intelligence of his sport, the graceful skating, the tape-to-tape passes.

I used to be apparently the primary Western journalist to speak with Markov, in a bunch interview with Afinogenov and Antropov and with a translator current. (Not way back, I discovered from fellow scribe Gare Joyce that I used to be additionally the primary Western journalist to speak to a different Russian, an adolescent who was a pupil on the Dynamo Hockey College on the time. And though I watched him by means of an extended morning of drills, I failed to identify the good expertise that Alexander Ovechkin would grow to be.)

Markov was all however silent that first time we talked, even in Russian. Even in Montreal years later, he did his speaking along with his stick. Understanding the place he got here from, nonetheless,

made this week’s ceremony on the Bell Centre all of the extra shifting

— even the stoic Markov himself was clearly moved on the outpouring of affection from the Montreal crowd.

In hindsight, former GM Marc Bergevin’s behaviour towards Markov on the finish of his profession was as unforgivable because it was infantile. Beneficiant to a fault with veterans like Carey Worth and Brendan Gallagher, Bergevin determined for no apparent cause to get powerful with Markov. It wasn’t even a matter of {dollars} — Markov was prepared to play for a similar wage he had been incomes, however he wished a two-year contract, not one.

This was a man who had spent 16 seasons with the Canadiens, who had been one of the best defenceman on the roster even throughout some very brutal seasons, who had by no means as soon as introduced dishonour or embarrassment on the CH throughout his lengthy profession.

It was Markov who had endured three knee surgical procedures and a torn Achilles whereas performing as the best Canadiens defenceman of the early many years of the twenty first century, Markov who stored some actually terrible groups from wanting as dangerous as they have been.

And Bergevin repaid his star defenceman by saying, in impact, “It’s a one-year deal. When you don’t prefer it, return to Russia.”

Markov did simply that. He would play elements of three extra seasons in Russia, two with Ak Bars Kazan and 23 video games within the 2019-2020 season with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv earlier than hanging them up. Markov’s efficiency fell off somewhat sharply throughout his second season with Ak Bars, maybe a sign it may need completed the identical in Montreal. So what? It was one yr of a contract he had greater than earned.

Now it’s all up to now, aside from these 10 video games that can all the time be within the file books, the hole between 990 video games performed and the honour that ought to have been his when he reached 1,000. However maybe it’s higher like this, now that followers actually respect what he was.

It was a delight to see Markov with

future star Ivan Demidov

, whose sunny persona is the polar reverse of Markov’s Slavic disappointment.

And if it isn’t an excessive amount of to ask of the hockey gods, we wish very a lot to see M. Demidov play 1,000 video games within the bleu-blanc-rouge.

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