How Do You Spell Disaster?: Markov Out For Four Months

by Robert L on Oct 3, 2009 1:21 AM EDT Comment 12 comments

We've been down this route before and the results weren't pretty. Last time, the painful reminder of how important Markov is to the Habs lasted a brief but painful four games. This time around it will be four long months.

Disaster I say!

Here is the official announcement from both the NHL.com and Habs official sites.

The Canadiens will be without the services of All-Star defenseman Andrei Markov for the next four months.

The veteran blue-liner left the Habs' first game of the season late in the contest against the Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre.

He underwent surgery on Thursday night in Toronto to repair a lacerated tendon in his ankle. He was released from hospital this morning and will return to Montreal today.

Replacing an All Star defensemen who logs 20+ minutes of icetime is one thing, but Markov has long been they key kog in the Canadiens offence and transition game. En autres mots, he's damn near irreplaceable unless a trade is made.

What might seem at first like a door of opportunity has opened for the likes of Yannick Weber or P.K. Subban, this situation likely represents the worst scenario they could be brought into.

The pressure on either of them to be Markov, would be simply ridiculous.

A trade is most reasonable option. Now let's see, what teams are out of the playoff hunt one game into the season and are prepared to part with a puck moving blueliner.

Want an understatement? This will be a major test of character for the Canadiens, no doubt. Another understantement is this Gazette headline...Markov injury puts pressure on Habs' blueline....in which coach Martin tries to see that the light at the tunnel's end isn't an oncoming train.　

The coach also looked to last year's Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, for inspiration. He noted that Sergei Gonchar and Ray Whitney missed most of the season, but were fresh for the Cup run. He also mentioned New Jersey goaltender Marty Brodeur returning fresh after an injury, but Brodeur's post-season play left something to be desired.

What Martin perhaps doesn't bring up, is the firing of coach Michel Therrien to help spark the Penguins down the stretch.

Oh yeah, and Piitsburgh also has a couple of kids named Crosby and Malkin, but that's inconsequencial I guess.

This is just plain bleak!

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So....

How good is that Spacek signing now! Imagine if we had resigned Komi instead, our powerplay would have evaporated.

Gomez has run the point before, Weber and Spacek will make the powerplay transition easier. Penalty kill will rely on good discipline and tough work from Mara, Gorges and Hammer. 5 on 5 will be more system based, it would have been nice to have Markov make up for mistakes as the boys are growing into the new system, but it isn’t something that cannot be overcome.

As we are seeing, the offense is going to be there and once the system gets in place and the shots against go down the defense should settle.

Not at all ideal, but adversity may be a good thing in this case forcing the new additions into a larger role and building those team connections that have been fertilized thus far in the preseason.

by blockersave93 on Oct 3, 2009 9:31 AM EDT reply actions

On LightHouse Hockey, we have been discussing offering Radek Martinek in trade. He is a veteran, skilled puckmover who is solid on defense and only has a $1.5 mil cap hit. His downside is that he seems to get injured every other year. On the bright side, he got injured last year, so maybe this is his year to be healthy—and in fairness, he was injured last year by a cheap shot by Backe of the Blues.

My thought is that you guys need a veteran puckmover like Martinek who won’t kill you on cap and can handle his end of the ice. You also lack a third round pick. We have ours and the Coyotes’, both of which will likely be early 3rd rounders. We would be better off with a talented young defender who can be mentored by Mark Streit to QB the 2nd PP unit. Either Subban who is best buds with JT or Weber who is Streit’s fellow countryman would seem perfect for us. What do you think?

by BCISLEMAN on Oct 3, 2009 11:37 PM EDT reply actions