In a late-afternoon e-mail, the Canadiens have confirmed what the Team 990′s Tony Marinaro reported two days ago: Andrei Markov’s season is over.

He will have surgery next week on the right knee that was surgically repaired last summer.

• Stubbs news story is here.

The team announcement:

… defenseman Andrei Markov will undergo knee surgery on Wednesday, December 8. The surgery, to repair a meniscus and reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), will be performed in Alabama by doctor James Andrews. “We are very confident that Andrei will be able to fully recover from this injury,” said the Canadiens’ general manager, Pierre Gauthier.

Anyone out there as “very confident” as Gauthier?

Markov will be 32 next month. He’s had four significant injuries over the last three seasons. And it’s not like he’s been levelled by Scott Stevens, Ulf Samuelsson or Darius Kasparaitis.

Markov is in the last season of a four-year, $23-million contract. He’s a UFA on July 1.

What now?

• Views from Arpon Basu and François Gagnon

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It is the words no fan of the Canadiens wants to hear, but defenceman Andrei Markov could miss the rest of this season.

That is what is being said in French-language reports by Agence QMI, citing reliable sources. The report says the all-star defenceman could be out of action for as long as eight months, with the possibility he could miss up to a year.

The Canadiens have said nothing more than Markov suffered a lower-body injury and that further tests were needed to evaluate the defenceman’s right knee. He was injured after a collission with Hurrcanes’ Eric Staal and it is the same knee Markov injured during the playoffs last season.