There were a lot of questions and concerns when the Montreal Canadiens signed restricted free agent (RFA) Josh Gorges to a one year deal over the summer.

With the young rearguard then given potential UFA status this July, many fans were fuming on such a short deal for a valuable asset in the organization. The case for Habs GM Pierre Gauthier was that Gorges' rebuilt knee was yet to be proven. His case was tarnished with Andrei Markov getting a three-year deal, and his "set back" to his knee has yet to generate NHL game time.

In Gorges' case this was an honor agreement between Gorges, his agent Kevin Epp and the Canadiens, which can always backfire for either party. Once the 27-year-old blueliner put in some quality effort and everything was OK medically, further negotiations would transpire. A contract extension is a rarity with the Canadiens as an unwritten company policy, with most negotiations happening after the season is over.

It would seem that in this case it worked. Gorges came up with his side of the bargain ten fold, leading the club in plus/minus and leading the NHL in blocked shots. The Canadiens held up their end, announcing a six-year contract extension this afternoon.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the club, but it is being reported at an average of $3.9 million per season. Renaud Lavoie of RDS tweeted that there is a no-trade clause in the first year of the deal, and a limited NTC in the following years. The deal was apparently hammered out between Christmas and New Years, but wasn't formally announced until today.

The deal solidifies a strong Canadiens defensive corps for the future, especially provided Markov makes a healthy return. Tomas Kaberle is under contract for two more seasons, and could be kept on as a precautionary measure. RFA's P.K. Subban and Alexei Emelin will be the Habs GM's next "to-do" items on the blue line.

The signing of Gorges will also be a huge indicator in a new deal for Carey Price. With his best friend on the team, and fellow BC native, locked up long term, one has to think a deal for the Habs netminder isn't too far behind.

Anyone here remember Craig Rivet?

According to Tony Marinaro fo the Team990, the Montreal Canadiens have come to terms with defenceman Andrei Markov. The deal is figured to be for two seasons at $11.5 million.

Neither the Canadiens, nor Markov's agent, Don Meehan have confirmed anything. Meehan did say that he would be talking with Habs GM Pierre Gauthier, during the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, this weekend in Minneapolis.

While Marianro does not speak for the team, his track record on Markov, like it or not, has been pretty bang on. It was Marinaro who reported his contact learned of an altercation between Markov and Carey Price following a game against St. Louis in 2009-10. Though the team played it down, the general consensus later deemed that the incident did occur.

He and also broke the story that the Russian rearguard was out for all but seven games of the 2010-11 season, following a collision with the Carolina Hurricanes Eric Staal.

Over the course of the last two injury-riddled  seasons, Markov has 37 points in 52 games.

In a mostly unsurprising move,  the Montreal Canadiens have re-signed Hal Gill to a one year contract for $2.25 million. Here is the team's official statement.  It's is surprising however that Montreal gave Gill the same salary as he was given 2 years ago. This signing, without a salary decrease for Gill, likely means James Wisniewski is definitely not being brought back next season, if you believe Markov is sure to be signed that is (I do).

It certainly was no secret that a deal had been made on Tuesday, as Hockey Inside/Out, RDS, the Canadiens official twitter account, and Steven Hindle were are all reporting it as "nearly done".

Gill's strengths as we all know are his defensive presence and veteran leadership. An alternate captain with the Canadiens the last two years, Gill was instrumental in bringing P.K. Subban into borderline superstar status within his rookie year. Subban and Josh Gorges had gone to management personally and asked for Gill to be retained, showing his value in the dressing room.

Gill scored 2 goals and added 7 assists and 43 penalty minutes last season in 75 games while putting up a -9 rating against tough competition.

RDS also reports that Dustin Boyd and Nigel Dawes have tentatively signed one-year deals with Barys Astana, in Kazakhstan. The Canadiens have yet to confirm any reports as both players are under contract until July 1. Boyd came to the Canadiens in the Sergei Kostitsyn deal. He managed one goal in 10 games before finding better success with the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL). There he had 20 goals and 9 assists in 47 games.

Dawes was part of the trade with the Atlanta Thrashers for Brent Sopel and saw four games with the Habs. He had 28 points (14 goals) in 19 regular season games and 22 points, matching his goal total, in 14 playoff games.

Meanwhile, after a close finish for a shot at the Calder Cup championship, the Hamilton Bulldogs are looking at a long-term deal to stay in the Hammer.