Andrei Markov

Canadiens all-star defenceman Andrei Markov, a Russian native, reportedly will be sworn in as a Canadian citizen in a Montreal court this week.

Radio-Canada is reporting the news tonight, echoed by CKAC, but credit columnist Mike Cohen of The Suburban for breaking the story in his column last week. Cohen reported that a source told him a pitch had been made to the Canadiens to hold a swearing-in ceremony at the Bell Centre during a game, but that it was turned down.

• Desharnais signs – Pat Hickey

• Julien Brisebois following Guy Boucher to Tampa?

• David Shoalts on Donald Fehr and the NHLPA

Canadiens' Andrei Markov grimaces in pain after being checked by Matt Cooke in Game 1 vs. Penguins. John Mahoney, The Gazette

Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov has had surgery on his injured knee, the Canadiens announced Wednesday.

The surgery was to repair a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee.

His recovery period is expected to be up to six months.

Markov raised hopes by skating in some Canadiens workouts last week.

There were reports, unconfirmed by the club, that he had tweaked his knee injury during one of the drills.

The Canadiens could count on the return of defenceman Jaroslav Spacek for Game 6 of  their Eastern Conference semifinal against the Penguins on Monday night. He said Sunday that he is "pretty close to playing," and hopes that he will see action on Monday.

In other news, injured defencemen Andrei Markov and Paul Mara skated on Sunday, but there was still no news on when, or if, Markov could return in the postseason.

For full details, read Herb Zurkowsky's update from Brossard.

According to the Team 990, Andrei Markov's season is over after he suffered a torn ACL in his right knee in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

More details to come.

Andrei Markov, seen here at the 2006 Turin Games, returns to the Olympic arena in Vancouver.
Elsa, Getty Images Sport

And Andrei Markov makes three, with more to come:

The Canadiens' all-star defenceman today was named to the Russian Olympic hockey team for Vancouver 2010.

His selection, which ranks right up there with the daily sunrise as a shock, follows that of Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn to Team Belarus earlier in the week.

Alex Kovalev was not chosen by Russian team general manager Vladislav Tretiak, who named 14 NHL players and nine from the Kontinental Hockey League.

It's not the 50-50 split Tretiak suggested he'd have when he spoke to Inside/Out during a recent scouting trip to Montreal to check out Washington superstar Alex Ovechkin and goalie Semyon Varlamov, who both were chosen.

RDS reported Friday morning that it has learned Andrei Markov will make a return to the Canadiens lineup sometime next week. But our Dave Stubbs reports via Twitter that Markov hopes to play on Saturday in Long Island and the final decision will be up to head coach Jacques Martin. If Markov had any say, he would be on the ice Saturday.

In other news, Tom Pyatt and Yannick Weber were returned to the Hamilton Bulldogs on Friday morning.

More to come.

Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov isn't returning to action just yet. The all-star is still having a few mobility issues, according to Habs coach Jacques Martin, and he will see team doctors later in the week, not today as originally advertised.

Martin (audio here) said this morning that his team will "play many games" before Markov returns. But then, Martin is doing his best (as he always does) to keep the circus atmosphere around his club to a minimum. Markov is going to be hugely welcomed, but his coach doesn't want anyone to heap the pressure of being a saviour on the Russian's shoulders.

A welcome sight for Habs: Andrei Markov could be back in uniform soon. Jamie Squire, Getty Images

According to The Gazette's Pat Hickey, the Canadiens could have Andrei Markov back on the blue line as early as this week.

Markov has been out since Oct. 1 after suffering an injury to the tendons in one of his ankles. In Hickey's story, he leads it off with a quote that says: “It looks like the doctors got it wrong.”

That might be the understatement of the year as Markov was originally supposed to be out of the lineup until February. But he is far ahead of schedule and could receive medical clearance for full contact drills as early as Monday, the same day Brian Gionta is to meet the team doctors.

It’s mid-December and the Habs are still playing .500 hockey. That makes me pretty happy. If you’re wondering why, you can read those reasons here. I think, I believe, I am infinitely confident that our 2009-2010 Montreal Canadiens are doing just fine and will surprise many a critic come springtime.

Recently, there’s been a lot of chatter on the site about whether or not this team can make the playoffs. Some say yes, many say no.

Some are even calling for this team to tank.

Whaaaaat?

Yeah, we should be asking for more quit from our hockey team.

Thanks, but no thanks.

There’s still some hope for this year’s Habs. This team WILL make the playoffs. That’s right the Montreal Canadiens will make the playoffs. If I’m wrong? Well, you can shoot my TV.

Russian goaltender Vladislav Tretiak, photographed in January 1972 a month before the Sapporo Olympics.
UN DA-SIN/AFP/Getty Images

• AUDIO: Vladislav Tretiak interview (14 minutes)

DAVE STUBBS, The Gazette

Andrei Markov has a city of fans behind him in his rehabilitation from a gruesome foot injury suffered late in the first game of this National Hockey League season.

On Saturday, the all-star Canadiens defenceman learned there’s an entire nation pulling for him, too.

Russian hockey legend Vladislav Tretiak broke bread with Markov before the Canadiens-Washington Capitals game, a meal that satisfied the appetites and curiosities of both men.

Tretiak was in Montreal on a scouting mission, loudly embraced as usual by Canadiens fans when the first-period scoreboard showed him in the crowd. The 57-year-old Hall of Famer is president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and general manager of his country’s Vancouver 2010 Olympic hockey team.

Vladislav Tretiak in a 2006 photo, upon being named president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation.
AFP

Russian hockey legend Vladislav Tretiak was at Saturday's Canadiens-Washington Capitals game in his capacity as general manager of his country's Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games team. So, too, was his Canadian counterpart, Steve Yzerman.

I spent 15 minutes with Tretiak postgame, outside the Washington Capitals' Bell Centre dressing room, to speak about Russia's Olympic team, Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin and young goaltender Semyon Varlamov and the importance to the Russians to have Canadiens all-star defenceman Andrei Markov in their Vancouver 2010 lineup. And we discussed this city's enduring love affair with Tretiak, who shone in the 1972 Summit Series, was brilliant in the 1975 New Year's Eve game, and finally was drafted by the Canadiens in 1984 but never played a game for the Habs.

Full story and audio of that interview to be posted here on Sunday, once the feature is written.

Former Canadien Vladimir Malakhov says that Habs' defenceman Andrei Markov should take all the time he needs to recover from his tendon injury. Malakhov, interviewed in Russia, says he was pressured by former Habs coach Alain Vigneault to return from a knee injury suffered during 1999-2000, his last season in Montreal.

Here's more in this French-language story by Marc de Foy of ruefrontenac.com.

Canadiens legend Elmer Lach unknowingly, at first, suffered two severed veins on Dec. 15, 1949 when kicked by the skate of Leafs' Bill Barilko. Here's his damaged boot.
Montreal Herald

No, it wasn't all a bad dream. Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov is still sidelined, having undergone tendon surgery Thursday night/Friday morning in Toronto. But the good news is, he's one day closer to returning.

The Canadiens are in Buffalo tonight for Game 2 of 82, without the man who's arguably their best player.

His skill and leadership will be missed, so we'll see how the Habs react to fill the enormous void his departure leaves.

Today's Gazette reading to begin the day, tonight's game preview to come:

• Heart of Habs torn asunder: Hickey
• Sharp steel, soft flesh don't mix: Stubbs
• Spacek defers to Hamrlik: Hickey
• Long, winding road for Habs: Boone's Eeee-mail
• Fun following former Canadiens: Fisher
• Spacek returns with new team: Buffalo News

We like this blog post by Montreal writer Arpon Basu:
• Can Markov be replaced? Uh... no

And in this L.A. Times Ducks' notebook: Koivu gets an "A" in Anaheim

A question to ask yourself as you contemplate four months – minimum – during which the Montreal Canadiens will be deprived of their best player:

If there were a God and if She were a hockey fan, who would have spent last night in a Toronto hospital:

Andrei Markov or Mike Komisarek?

•  •  •

The last time Bob Gainey got nervous about depth on D, Mike Ribeiro was traded for Janne Niinimaa.

Now the situation is a lot more dire than slow recoveries by Francis Bouillon and Mathieu Dandenault.

Without Andrei Markov, the general manager's Canadiens will be lacking 25 to 28 quality minutes per game: PP, PK, first pairing against the opponents' most dangerous line.

Since the lockout ended, the Canadiens are 6-19-2 in games without number 79.

Last March and April – in the wake of the first occurence of the ACC Curse – the Markov-less team led by Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev lost eight straight games – including the ignominous playoff sweep at the hands of the Bruins.

Can the reconstructed Canadiens do better?

They will have to.

Roman Hamrlik becomes, by default, the anchor of the D. He'll be paired with Jaroslav Spacek, who'll have to play the right side and eat more minutes than a guy his age can readily digest. Jacques Martin seems inexplicably wedded to a Hal Gill-Paul Mara painting .... uhh, I mean pairing; which means Josh Gorges will play with Ryan O'Byrne.

Who gets a call-up?

My money is on Mathieu Carle, an experienced D-man who had a pretty good pre-season. Yannick Weber would help the PP more, but Carle is more solid in his own end.

Montreal loved P.K. Subban, but the kid is not ready.

A trade?

Sergei Kostitsyn was Patrick Kane's linemate and tight buddy in the OHL.

How far can Cristobal Huet carry the Blackhawks?

Just thinking out loud here ...

On the other hand, trades made from desperation aren't ideal because the other GMs smell blood in the water.

Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov will be sidelined for four months after undergoing surgery Thursday night in Toronto to repair a lacerated tendon in his left ankle suffered during the team's National Hockey League season opener in Toronto.

Markov was cut on the ankle by Carey Price's skate as the goaltender scrambled to get back into position seconds before the Maple Leafs scored their third goal of the game in the third period Thursday night.

This is the second straight game at the Air Canada Centre in which Markov has been hurt. During Montreal's final game there last season, he was run into the boards from behind my Mikhail Grabovski, injuring his knee and forcing Markov out of action for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs.

More details to come.

• Andrei Markov talks to Dave Stubbs about the captaincy and other stuff

• Tomas Plekanec looks for a bounce-back season

• Pat Hickey on Max-Pac's strong camp

• François Gagnon nominates Roman Hamrlik

• Sean Gordon of the Globe and Mail on Georges Laraque's vegan diet

• Eric Duhatschek asks whether young stars like Ovie and Sid can save the NHL from itself

• Pierre LeBrun's training camp questions, including:

Are the Habs any better? It really depends on how quickly so many new faces can come together and find chemistry, and that's no small task. It also depends on how Gomez and Gionta can rebound from subpar seasons and whether they can rediscover the magic that made them effective as New Jersey teammates a few years ago. Goalie Carey Price also has much to answer for after a mediocre season. It's hard to see the Habs as anything but a bubble team fighting for the last playoff spot in the East, but stranger things have happened. Either way, Gainey had no choice but to change the dynamic of a team that came apart, on and off the ice, last season.

• Boston Globe on Steve Bégin (Thanks, nightmare_49)

• Red Fisher – who's seen many Canadiens' captains, back to Emile Bouchard – says Andrei Markov is The Man. In the photo, the putative C is looking up toward the Bell Centre pressbox with appropriate veneration.

• Scouting reports on Steve Quailer and Danny Kristo. (Thanks, Nightmare_49)

• At ruefrontenac.com, Bertrand Raymond flays Gainey for his treatment of Alex Tanguay, Françcois Beauchemin and Denis Gauthier.

• L.A. general manager Dean Lombardi says the Kings don't want Dany Heatley.

• Canadiens web site has a feature on AK46.

• Robert L on a tryout for Robert Lang.

• Lightning co-owner Len Barrie in financial hot water.

• Eric Duhatschek writes the firing of Paul Kelly was an NHLPA palace coup. Scott Burnside on what went down. Pierre LeBrun on what the PA has learned.

• The Hockey News Rumour Roundup: San Jose looking at Phil Kessel?

And finally, a personal, yes-this-means-you shout-out to Habs_Guru, ParrySoundHabber and HardHabits:

Kids, play nice or you'll be sent to your Habs I/O rooms for a quiet time of indefinite duration. We are trying to restore civility to the site. Please get with the program.

Our favourite video-maker, Watsatheo, salutes our favourite Canadien, Andrei Markov.

Alex Kovalev is back in the good graces of the Russian hockey federation.

Kovy has been invited to Russia's Olympic summer tryout camp which will take place Aug. 29 to Sept. 1

Andrei Markov is on the list, of course.

But Alexander Perezhogin, who was on Russia's team at the Worlds, has been dropped

George Gillett and his much taller partner, Tom Hicks, have bought themselves 12 months of breathing room on their loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia.

Uncles George and Tom – or, as they're known in the pubs of Liverpool, "those Yank c%$#s" – still owe a huge whack of money and have to a) maybe find a deep-pocketed partner and b) figure out how to build a new stadium at Anfield.

From the Guardian:

When they bought Liverpool in 2007 for £174m assuming £44.8m in liabilities, Gillett promised not to load any debt on to the club. When it emerged that they had done so, and that plans to build a new stadium were being put on hold, there was anger from fans.

Learned colleague Pat Hickey reveals BMO has replaced bankrupt CIT in providing $225 million toward the Molson brothers' $550 million purchase of the Canadiens.

...Robert Lang is skating in equipment, shooting the puck, and he's wearing a grin a mile wide. Andrei Markov is on Bell Centre ice, as well, both guys firing on Concordia goalie Maxime Joyal.

NHL all-star balloting begins Nov. 12 and runs through Jan. 2, and this time, for the first time in any major sport, fans will be able to follow progress of the vote in real time.

We haven't yet seen the ballot for the game to be played Jan. 25 at the Bell Centre, but expect Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov to be included, having been a starter last year.

Other Habs surely will be on the ballot, and fans can "write in" anyone for whom they choose they to vote.

NHL.com's Dan Rosen has a nice piece on Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov that discusses his emergence this year as one of the league's premiere defenceman.

Read the article here.

The Gazette's Pat Hickey wonders what has happened to Andrei Markov? The Canadiens' No. 1 defenceman has been struggling lately, and head coach Guy Carbonneau is starting to get concerned.

"Maybe he sees himself in the All-Star Game too quick," Carbonneau said. "I don't think he's injured. But his play on the ice is not where it should be. We've talked to him about it. We need him to get back to where he was early in the year. He should be our best defenceman and right now he's not."

Markov is minus-12 over the last 10 games and he has only collected four assists during that time.