Coming into the season there was a lot of fear that Andrei Markov wouldn’t be the player that he once was. While he’s lost a stride in his skating, that was never the most important part of his game, and his 4 goals and 4 assists in the first 6 games of the season sent a statement to the NHL, Markov is still awesome.
Markov burst onto the scene playing 25 minutes a night in all situations and dominating all over the ice, including netting 3 straight game winning goals in the Habs’ first three wins of the season.
Since then though, Markov has gone surprisingly cold. In the 10 games following his first 6, he has just two points, both assists. In the last 6 games, he has no points. After 10 shots in his first 4 games, Markov has 11 shots in the previous 12 games.
In terms of possession, he’s being carried by his partner, with Alexei Emelin being much stronger than Markov there when the two are apart.
The Canadiens have an 11.63% shooting percentage at even strength while Markov is on the ice, yet Markov remains the only Montreal Canadiens regular to not have a single point at even strength, and he’s only produced 3 shots of his own at 5-on-5.
Is Markov being played too much? Are teams checking him too tightly for him to break through after he’s been slowed down a bit? What do you think?
