If Andrei Markov had his way, he would have concluded his career with the only NHL franchise he's ever known.
The veteran defenseman was clearly disappointed he won't be back with the Montreal Canadiens next season.
"I wanted to stay with the Canadiens for the rest of my career, but it won't happen," Markov said Thursday, hours after the club announced he will not be playing for them in 2017-18. "It's a business."
The 38-year-old, who later revealed he's headed to Russia to play in the KHL, said he couldn't imagine donning another NHL sweater.
"I didn't see myself with any other NHL team. I didn't see myself wearing another jersey," he said, adding, "I knew in my heart that I only wanted to sign in Montreal," according to TSN 690's Amanda Stein.
Markov repeatedly claimed Thursday he was willing to sign a one-year contract to stay with the Canadiens, for whom he played for nearly two decades.
"Those 16 years were a big part of my life," he said. "I will never forget my time here."
Markov added he's not closing the door on a reunion with Montreal, but the KHL is his destination for the immediate future.
The blue-liner ranks sixth on the Canadiens' all-time games played list with 990, and only Larry Robinson suited up for more (1,202) among defensemen in franchise history.
Markov, a native of Russia, heads home after spending 16 years in the NHL - all with the Canadiens.
His 572 points with Montreal are tied for second-most by a defenseman in the franchise's history, but a number of factors - including his reportedly lofty contract demands, the Canadiens' limited cap space, and Mark Bergevin's decision to add four left-handed shooting defensemen this offseason - eventually led the two sides to part ways.
It remains unclear which KHL team Markov will join, but considering the 38-year-old is coming off a stellar season, he should have no shortage of options.
Markov will now be eligible to represent Team Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Doug Gilmour was the star of one of the most successful Toronto Maple Leafs franchises of the past 50 years, coming oh-so-close to reaching the 1993 Stanley Cup Final. Nearly 25 years later, I caught up with Gilmour to talk about his memories of the 1992-93 Maple Leafs (Part I can be found here):
So you get to the playoffs, and draw a familiar first-round opponent in the Detroit Red Wings. How would you describe that series to those who didn't see it?
Roller coaster. Going in there, losing both games, coming back, winning twice, going back there, winning again, coming back and getting our (butts kicked) … and then we go back in there and we're down a couple early, and we fight back. As we got closer to the end of regulation, we needed one goal. And we got it. And everything changed once (Nikolai Borschevsky) scored.
Yeah, that series was a roller coaster. After we won that third game, we really started to get a little confidence. Had we lost that game, history would have changed a little bit.
Most Leaf fans remember Borschevsky's goal for the sheer magnitude of it. But you guys are fishing for the summer if you don't score the tying goal with 2:43 left in regulation. What do you recall of that play?
I was just coming in front of the net, and I believe it deflected off somebody. I got it and went glove side, and it actually went under (Red Wings goaltender Tim Cheveldae's) glove, not over the glove. I was just trying to get it on net. I didn't know if it went in or not. I put my arms up, and obviously it went in.
They had a good hockey team over there, and I'm sure going into overtime they had a little more confidence than we did. We were the underdogs, so the expectations weren’t as high going in, but we just got shots on net. Nothing's changed in our game. Crazy things have happened.
Next up was the St. Louis Blues, who were getting elite goaltending from Curtis Joseph. What do you do when you're facing a guy who's red-hot?
You don't really know. They had a pretty good hockey club over there with (Brett) Hull and (Brendan) Shanahan … you don't have a lot of time to think about this. The next day, you go in and prep your lines - who's going to play against whom, who's on the power play, who's on the penalty kill.
I think with the high of winning the Detroit series, we didn't look at St. Louis the same way. We thought Detroit was better. But that was a tough series. It took a lot out of us. I don't think we took them for granted, but we felt that (St. Louis) wasn't as good as Detroit at the time. So we were pretty upbeat that we were gonna beat them.
You got off to a good start with that memorable wraparound goal to win Game 1 in double OT. You were behind the net for what seemed like forever - what was going through your mind?
I learned from the best, obviously, with Gretzky. That was kind of my place to hide. Nicky was in the high slot, the defensemen were covered up high, and Andreychuk was going back and forth trying to get into a good spot, so in reality, I was waiting for him to get into a good spot and get it to the net. I didn't know I was going to spin, but I did, and as I started to come around, there was that one little opening. I can't explain it. It was just there.
That series was so closely contested until Game 7, when you rolled to a 6-0 win. Did you do anything differently, or did the pucks just find ways in?
They were just finding ways in. I don't think CuJo was tired, but he could have been tired; he had faced a lot of rubber. There's nothing better than getting a lead, and that was our thing - if we can just get one, and then two, and three. And that's what happened. The game is still hard-hitting now, but it was a war out there against those guys. They had some big bodies and a lot of talent.
So next up is Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference Final …
I wish I could play that series over. The whole thing. I know we could have beaten them, even with the non-call. Gretzky, he had a horseshoe up his ass in Game 7. We made some mistakes, and we didn't usually make mistakes. But it was still close. You look back at some of the mistakes and the chances we did have where we didn't score - I wish we could go back, even to Game 7, just play that one. I'd love to.
No kidding. What a series. It didn't take long for the two teams to get acquainted, as Marty McSorley delivered an open-ice hit on you in Game 1 that led to a lengthy fracas. What did that hit do to change the series?
I don't know. Not long after that, I headbutted him. It didn't really change a lot. That first game, it was kind of a wake-up call, the way you feel these guys out. (Wendel Clark) settled the score, too (by locking horns with McSorley in a long and memorable fight immediately following the hit). Who else was going to go out there and say anything to Clarkie now? Nobody.
I loved how Burns trying to get at Kings head coach Barry Melrose during the post-hit scuffle brought about Don Cherry's famous description of Melrose as "Billy Ray Cyprus" …
(Laughs) That was quite the hairdo. I've had some bad ones, but that might be the worst.
Pat was on fire in that moment. What was he like in the locker room after that game? Was he back to normal?
Yes. He'll say a couple things after games, but everything happens so quick in the playoffs. Every other day you're playing. He just went back and said, "Here's what we have to do." We just let it go and prepared for the next one. That's all you can do. Burnsy was pretty quiet afterward.
I want to talk about what gets overlooked in that memorable Game 6 - Wendel's three-goal explosion.
We have a chance to win in their building, and Burnsy's going to switch lines up here and there. Wendel scored a couple, and we pulled the goalie. I had the puck behind the net and I threw it out to him, and if you watch the highlights, I ducked. I knew that puck was coming.
That was Wendel. He was going through a lot of pain playing, and he played hard. He was intimidating out there.
I cover Gretzky's high-stick non-call on you in my feature on the 1992-93 Leafs, so I won't reopen old wounds here. But did you check out Kerry Fraser's explanation of his decision in the Players' Tribune last year?
No.
Have you spoken with him much? How is that relationship? Is there one?
I've seen him before. It's fine. It's over.
The biggest part about it is, there were two other linesmen on the ice that could have lied to him and said, "Yeah, pretend you saw it." Being in the (Great Western) Forum, I think there would have been a riot if Gretzky had been kicked out, so nothing was going to happen. (Gilmour was bleeding, which would have resulted in a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for Gretzky.)
Again, I keep saying it, but we had Game 7 at home, and we lost. Their best player beat us.
I'd like to know how you look back on that season now, nearly 25 years later. Do you think about it much, or does it only come to mind when someone brings it up?
It's more when someone brings it up. I think the biggest thing is, when you get traded during a season, you go in and try to make a small impact, but you're new to it. The next year, you come in and you get a full season - and that's what I was looking forward to.
Obviously a lot of things went right that year, but I don't rule out the following year. We had a great start, and a good hockey team. We ended up losing to Vancouver, but that team could have been just as good. Obviously there wasn’t anything like the wraparound goal, but it was exciting for us in the room saying, "Here we are again, we've got this chance again." I thought we were better than L.A. in 1993, and I thought we were better than Vancouver.
You know what? There were so many little things that year that went on. It was great to get to know Burnsy, to figure out what he was all about. At the end, when we lost, we all went out together - trainers, coaches … we were all a big family. It's a shame that we didn’t win.
I know Burnsy won a Cup (in New Jersey), but he came back for a reunion a couple years before he passed; he wanted to be here to see the guys. That's the bond we had. Everybody had a relationship with him. He was a meanie to some guys, but he was also a gentle giant. It was fun. I miss it.
After the Montreal Canadiensannounced Thursday that Andrei Markov won't return following 16 seasons and 990 games with the club, the veteran free-agent defenseman can now set his sights on finding a new home for the first time in his NHL career.
Last season, Markov tallied 36 points in 62 games, recorded a 54 Corsi For percentage, and logged nearly 22 minutes per night.
With many teams in the hunt for a legitimate top-four defenseman, Markov shouldn't have trouble landing a contract, as long as he's willing to take a one-year deal.
Without further ado, here are three teams that could use the 38-year-old's services:
Edmonton Oilers
Believe it or not, the 2017-18 season could be Edmonton's best chance to claim the Stanley Cup. Signing there would also be Markov's best shot at winning the title.
Connor McDavid's $12.5-million cap hit doesn't begin until 2018-19, so the Oilers currently have $16.8 million in cap space for the coming season. Sure, Leon Draisaitl still needs a new contract, but it's doubtful he'll command north of $10 million.
That would mean the Oilers could meet Markov's reported salary demand of $6 million per year. Edmonton wouldn't be able to give him a two-year contract, but at this point in the offseason Markov might have to settle.
The Oilers currently have a gaping hole among their top four defensemen, as Andrej Sekera was given a six-to-nine month recovery timeline from a torn ACL suffered in May. Even when he does return, there's no guarantee he's the same player.
Markov would solidify the club's second pairing behind Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson, allowing youngster Darnell Nurse to remain sheltered on the third unit for another season.
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres have been on the verge of making the leap for a couple of seasons now. Markov could give them that extra boost to get over the hump.
Here is the team's current defenseman projection for 2016-17:
LD
RD
Marco Scandella
Rasmus Ristolainen
Jake McCabe
Zach Bogosian
Josh Gorges
Nathan Beaulieu
Viktor Antipin
Ristolainen, Scandella, and Bogosian are capable of playing top-four minutes, but the remaining players are not. Signing Markov would push McCabe down to a more fitting role on the third pairing, make Gorges or Beaulieu a reliable seventh defenseman, and give the recently signed Antipin a year to adjust to the North American game with a season in the AHL.
Amazingly, the team has $8.7 million in cap space. It doesn't necessarily need a defenseman, but Markov would certainly be a welcome addition.
Here is how San Jose's defense currently projects for next season:
LD
RD
Paul Martin
Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon
Dylan DeMelo
Markov could bump the steady but unimpressive 36-year-old Martin down to the third pairing, sending DeMelo to the press box.
More importantly, the Sharks' power play ranked 25th in the league a year ago. Markov, a noted specialist with the extra man, would surely help the struggling unit and give the team one last kick at the can.
It's been 26 days since Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl became a restricted free agent and still he remains without a contract.
However, since then the Oilers locked up captain Connor McDavid to an eight-year, $100-million contract and as head coach Todd McLellan explains, the deal has eaten a lot of the team's cap space.
"Obviously with Connor's (contract), Leon's, and some of the players that are coming up, it's become a very tight wallet, if you will," McLellan said, according to NHL.com's Derek Van Diest. "I'm not talking about the dollars that are going out, but just about the cap space. Not only does (general manager) Peter (Chiarelli) have to manage the team that is going on the ice, he has to manage the team that's in the books as well, and that's not going to change for many years."
Despite the money predicament that appears to have dragged out negotiations with Draisaitl, McLellan remains confident he'll be back with the club next season and beyond.
"I'm confident we're going to see Leon in an (Oilers) uniform," McLellan said. "We want him to be there, he wants to be there, and it's just a matter of getting a few things done over the summer."
Draisaitl took a dramatic step forward last season, proving he should be a big part of the Oilers for years to come. The 21-year-old posted career highs in all offensive categories with 29 goals and 77 points, while playing in all 82 games. He was also the team's top producer in the playoffs finishing with six goals and 16 points in 13 games.
James Bisson celebrates the 25th anniversary of the 1992-93 season with a look back at the most memorable moments of the greatest campaign in NHL history. This edition focuses on the San Jose Sharks, who put together one of the worst regular seasons in league history:
The 2016-17 Colorado Avalanche had a season to forget, finishing dead last in the NHL with 48 points while boasting a frightful minus-112 goal differential.
The 1992-93 San Jose Sharks would have taken that result in a heartbeat.
As the curtain raises on the 2017-18 season, we celebrate the 25-year anniversary of what is easily one of the worst campaigns in NHL history. Here are the gory details of what the Sharks accomplished in '92-'93:
GP
W
L
T
PTS
GF
GA
84
11
71
2
24
218
414
Only the expansion Washington Capitals in 1974-75 (8-67-5) recorded fewer points in a season of at least 80 games, while the first-year Ottawa Senators also finished with 24 points that year, registering one fewer win, one fewer loss, and two more ties. The Sharks' 71 losses are the most in NHL history, while the minus-196 goal differential is second only to the '74-'75 Caps (minus-265).
Just how bad was it for a second-year Sharks team that finished with 29 fewer points than the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that didn't even exist a year earlier? Here's a position-by-position breakdown:
Goaltenders
As you can imagine, the goaltending in San Jose wasn't what you would call "upper tier" in 1992-93. Three different players appeared in at least 18 games that season; Arturs Irbe was the only one of the trio to win more than two games. He finished with a 7-26-0 record while leading the team in goals-against average (4.11) and save percentage (.886). Yep, those led the team.
Veteran Brian Hayward, a three-time Jennings Trophy winner as Patrick Roy's backup in Montreal, found things much tougher in San Jose; he went 2-14-1 that season, boasting a hideous 5.55 GAA and an .846 save percentage. He allowed five or more goals 10 times, including a nine-goal rout by the Penguins and two eight-goal outings.
Option No. 3, the above-pictured Jeff Hackett, made out worst of all. His 2-30-1 record might never be duplicated in NHL history - nor will his 5.28 GAA or .856 percentage in 36 games. Then 24, he went on to become a serviceable netminder in Chicago and Montreal, but his stint with the Sharks didn't do him any favors.
Defensemen
As bad as San Jose's goaltending may have been, its defense was equally poor. No one better personified the blue-line struggles than young stay-at-home defenseman Rob Zettler (shown above), who finished the year with what can only be described as a fantasy owner's worst nightmare:
GP
G
A
PTS
+/-
80
0
7
7
-50
It took a lot to go without a goal over 80 games in the highest-scoring season in the modern era, but Zettler found a way. He didn't exactly help his cause by firing just 60 shots on goal; in fact, of the six San Jose defensemen to play at least 40 games, Doug Wilson led the way with 110 shots on goal. Wilson was 35 at the time.
Three Sharks defensemen finished at a league-worst minus-50 that year: Zettler, Doug Zmolek, and Neil Wilkinson. Jay More was a minus-35 in 73 games, while Wilson was a minus-28 despite playing just 42 games. And in an era when goal-scoring was plentiful, the San Jose defense corps managed just 31 combined goals; Sandis Ozolinsh and Tom Pederson led the way with seven each.
Forwards
It wasn't all doom and gloom up front, where the Sharks produced a 78-point scorer in Kelly Kisio and a 66-point winger in Johan Garpenlov. Kisio represented the Sharks at the All-Star Game in Montreal, while Garpenlov and Rob Gaudreau (23 goals) combined to give the Sharks a pair of 20-goal scorers under the age of 25.
But the Sharks simply didn't have enough consistent offensive contributors to keep the team in games. Pat Falloon, taken second overall in 1991, was limited to 41 games due to injury and finished with just 28 points; his former junior linemate, Ray Whitney, would become a reliable option in later years, but was just 20 years old that season and finished with 10 points in 26 games.
Not surprisingly, the Sharks' special teams struggled as well. San Jose scored on just 16.1 percent of its power-play opportunities that year, well below the league average of 19.6 percent, while killing just 76.6 percent of opponents' man-advantage chances; the league average was 80.4 percent. Truth be told, there wasn't one thing the '92-'93 Sharks did all that well.
What happened next?
The debacle of '92-'93 spurred the Sharks' front office to action - and the results were dramatic. San Jose added significant veteran presence the following season, bringing in former KLM linemates Sergei Makarov and Igor Larionov and adding underrated center Todd Elik; those three, along with a much-improved Irbe, helped lead the Sharks to a stunning playoff berth.
If that wasn't enough, San Jose shocked the hockey world in the opening round of the postseason, upsetting the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings in seven games. The Sharks came within a Garpenlov crossbar of reaching the Conference Finals, but ultimately squandered a 3-2 series lead and fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven.
It didn't take long for San Jose to become a respectable franchise; the team has missed the playoffs just four times since '92-'93 and reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2016. But no matter how well the Sharks perform moving forward, they'll always be the team that lost 71 of 84 games in a single season; not even the 2016-17 edition of the Avalanche can say that.
As Adidas rolls out its new NHL sweaters for the upcoming 2017-18 season, the company has reportedly decided to cut loose Canadian equipment maker CCM Hockey.
Adidas has sold its CCM Hockey business to Toronto-based Birch Hill Equity Partners for $110M. pic.twitter.com/EzHx1S62Ef
Reebok acquired CCM Hockey in 2004 and Adidas took over control of both companies the following year. According to Adidas' annual report, net sales for CCM Hockey fell nearly 14 percent from 2015 to 2016. CCM Hockey president Philippe Dube told The Globe and Mail's Josh O'Kane that the brand had tripled in market share over the previous three years and was No. 2 in the Canadian equipment market as of 2016.
Birch Hill describes itself as "Canada's leading mid-market buyout firm" and has partnerships with companies involved in software, telecom, agriculture, and more.
"We’ll keep plodding along," general Chuck Fletcher said. "Everyone’s working hard, we’ve had good dialogue, but obviously we haven’t gotten to the finish line yet. If you look around the league, negotiations tend to go right down to the arbitration day or the day before or the day after the hearing sometimes even.
"Nothing prods progress more than a deadline."
Both players are scheduled to go to arbitration - Niederreiter on Aug. 3 and Granlund on Aug. 4 - but Fletcher is confident the trend of players signing before going in front of a third party will continue.
"I would expect these would be similar," Fletcher said. "Hopefully we can find a solution on a long-term basis, and if not, we always have the hearing to fall back on and we can revisit it in a year or so."
Granlund is coming off a career year that saw him post 26 goals and 69 points in 81 games, while Niederreiter posted his third straight 20-goal season and hit career highs with 25 goals and 57 points.
James Bisson celebrates the 25th anniversary of the 1992-93 season with a look back at the most memorable moments of the greatest campaign in NHL history. This edition focuses on future Hall of Fame forward Teemu Selanne, who had a rookie campaign for the record books:
Even before Teemu Selanne laid waste to the NHL as a rookie, the Winnipeg Jets knew what they had in the Finnish superstar.
Not only did the Jets draft Selanne 10th overall in 1988 knowing he'd have to remain in Finland to complete compulsory military service, they also wasted no time matching the Calgary Flames' offer sheet once Selanne became a restricted free agent in 1992. And it was big money for a player who hadn't yet competed in the NHL - three years and $2.7 million in total.
As it turned out, the newly minted Hall of Famer was worth every penny - and then some.
The electrifying winger known as the Finnish Flash put together the most incredible rookie season in NHL history, racking up 76 goals and 132 points to establish a pair of records that haven't been challenged since. In fact, no first-year player has even come within 20 goals of Selanne's mark - making it one of the most incontestable records in league annals.
"I didn’t really realize what happened (at the time)," Selanne said on a conference call to celebrate his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. "Now, the (goal) number is so big ... I really don't know how that happened."
It helped that Selanne had developed his game with Jokerit Helsinki of the Finnish Elite League, and joined a veteran Jets team that would offer plenty of support. Veteran Finnish defenceman Teppo Numminen was a major influence for the rookie, and Winnipeg had potent offensive weapons like Keith Tkachuk, Alexei Zhamnov, and Phil Housley to play alongside him.
It didn't take long for Selanne to make his presence felt; he had points in 11 of his first 12 NHL games, a stretch that included his first career hat trick in a 7-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers and a five-point performance against that same Flames team that had tried to sign him away from Winnipeg. By the end of October, Selanne had amassed 11 goals and nine assists in just 12 games.
A November swoon took him off the 50-goals-in-50-games pace, as he scored just six goals and added five assists in 11 games. But things picked back up in December, as he notched his second hat trick of the season en route to an 11-goal, eight-assist showing in 14 contests. With 28 goals through 37 games, he was on pace to beat Mike Bossy's rookie record of 53.
January brought about an entirely different version of the Finnish Flash - the playmaker. Selanne put together a stretch that saw him record multiple points eight times in a 10-game span, overlapping with a 9-1-2 Jets run. He came out of January with 12 goals and 15 assists in 12 games, lapping the field in the Calder Trophy race - and the best was yet to come.
It was clear by the end of that month that it was only a matter of when - not if - Selanne would break Bossy's rookie mark. But his pace slowed for most of February as he scored just five times over the opening eight games of the month; not surprisingly, the Jets also faltered over that stretch, going on a seven-game winless stretch during which they earned just one point.
But a goal against the expansion Ottawa Senators and another three nights later versus the Vancouver Canucks put Selanne within six of equaling Bossy's 15-year-old record. And then Selanne really turned it on - becoming just the third player in league history to score 50 goals as a rookie with a stunning four-goal performance against the Minnesota North Stars.
Two nights later, needing just three goals to set the mark, Selanne and the Jets hosted the Quebec Nordiques. The video below sets the scene:
After a deft flip of the puck over prone Quebec netminder Stephane Fiset, an elated Selanne hurled his glove in the air and mock-shot it into submission before embracing his teammates as the new rookie goals champion. Seemingly eased of the pressure of chasing Bossy, Selanne not only built on the mark the rest of the season - he made it virtually unreachable.
Selanne would record seven more multi-goal games the rest of the way, finishing March with an unimaginable 20 tallies in 14 games. He added five goals and nine assist in seven April contests to finish tied with Buffalo Sabres sniper Alexander Mogilny for the league lead.
Selanne's 132 points were also a no-doubt rookie record; Wayne Gretzky had 137 points in his first NHL season, but he wasn't considered a rookie by virtue of his 80-game stint in the World Hockey Association in 1978-79. Selanne earned all 50 first-place votes in the Calder Trophy race, easily outdistancing Boston Bruins left winger Joe Juneau.
"What a great memory that whole year was, and how the people in Winnipeg lived it with me, and all the experiences I shared with the fans and the team," Selanne added. "It was something really special that I’m never going to forget."
It was the start of a terrific career for Selanne, who wound up winning three NHL goal-scoring titles, making four end-of-season All-Star teams, and capturing a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007. He finished with 684 goals - good for 11th on the all-time list - and 1,457 points in 1,451 regular-season games over his 22-year NHL career.
Those numbers landed Selanne a spot in hockey's hallowed Hall - and his resume would have been good enough even without the contributions from his first season. But it doesn't hurt to be the owner of not one, but two major rookie scoring records that should remain his for decades to come.
For the first time in his 16-year career, Andrei Markov will not don the iconic Montreal Canadiens sweater come the start of the season. The team announced Thursday that the unrestricted free agent will not be back with the club for the 2017-18 campaign.
His tenure with the Habs seemed likely to end after the team signed fellow veteran free-agent defenseman Mark Streit on Tuesday.
Before Thursday's announcement, it was reported that Markov had yet to seek offers from other clubs, and many NHL teams are now up against the salary cap after the wave of offseason movement.
However, the veteran proved last season that he has plenty left in the tank. Markov recorded 36 points in 62 games with a 54.0 Corsi For rating while logging nearly 22 minutes per night. He is without a doubt the best free-agent defenseman currently available.
Markov, a sixth-round pick in the 1998 draft, sits sixth on the historic franchise's leaderboard with 990 games played, and tied for second among points by a defenseman with 572.
