Andrei Markov will not be a member of the Montreal Canadiens next season, having instead signed a contract with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL. Naturally, this has sparked tremendous discussion and opinion regarding the nature of the negotiations and the state of the Habs’ blue line.
Ultimately, the question everyone circles back to is: why? Markov loved Montreal so much that he refused to consider donning the jersey of another NHL team. Marc Bergevin clearly stated on July 2 that he wanted Markov back in Montreal.
What happened?
First, let’s attempt to make some educated guesses regarding where negotiations were at the start of the UFA window.