According to Tony Marinaro of the Team 990, the Canadiens will soon re-sign all-star defenceman Andrei Markov for two season.
The deal is reportedly valued at $11.5 million.
The Russian blue-liner has missed most of the last two seasons with various injuries, playing only 52 games.
After the report spread via Twitter, Markov’s agent, Don Meehan, denied a deal was imminent this week, but added a deal could be done by next week. Meehan is supposed to meet with Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier in Minnesota later this week during the NHL entry draft.
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Only thing left is cold blooded murder. THAT frees up the cap.Swear to gosh, look at the fine print!Ok, sooo…how do we do this, execution-style or gangland-style?
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Like many here, I like the Wiz and it would be great to see him on the team for many of the reasons stated. May happen.
But it’s a tough one… you’re not going to sign him for much less than he would expect to make from others in free agency – he could be close to Markov territory with longer term. The price will be inflated. And Montreal fans know more about the trouble caused by inflated contracts than most… expectations are going to go way up (paid like Markov you better play like Markov) and competing for PP time with Subban/Markov may put him in a less advantageous position to meet them.
We can sign him and then trade him close to trading deadline for the Top 6 winger we are looking for… but with the inflated contract he becomes harder to trade – especially if he has not had the opportunity to properly justify the contract. Besides, if he even sniffs this possibility, why would he sign here?
I like the option some others have stated below – try to trade his rights to negotiate before free agency and with luck get back something close to the draft pick we gave up for him.
Well no need to watch the draft upcoming, Pierre Mcguire has done his mock draft and Montreal Drafted Brandon Saad. Pierre says we need him to improve our physical play. In Pierre we trust….
Glad to see some realistic views on here. So in that spirit, letting go of the EA sports NHL GM in me, I would like to say this:
In this year’s UFA bunch the pickings are slim. I see only Laich as a possible fit for the top six. It’s not a perfect fit and he’ll be sought after, therefore cost too much. But more importantly, it’s a big gamble to count on him choosing mtl.
I don’t know that we have the assets currently to fill that spot through trade, at a price we’re willing to pay.
So, I would like to see PG sign the Wiz and Poulette because they are assets… Would be a real shame to loose them for nothing.
Add a big tough fourth liner and this lineup should win it’s share of regular season games, especially if Gomer produces reasonably. Cammy should have a better year and the kids are going to keep developing. I don’t see this team doing worst than last season in any case.
The big challenge for PG is to make the necessary adjustment during the season to adress the size and grit issue, which as we’ve seen is a necessary come playoff time.
If we’re close enough, the goat can make a splash at the deadline and put this team over the top.
Just wanted to repost this eklund vid as he has Habs interested in Ryan Malone rumor up. Where would he play with Camm/MaxPac playing LW on the first two lines? -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzMuCM01MtY
My armchair GM 11/12 Habs –
rough salary guess-timates in brackets = cap hit of 56.044 mill
leaving 7.206 million for in season adjustments (cap ceiling rumored to be 64 million)
Camm 6 – Pleks 5 – AK46 (off-wing) 3.25
MaxPac 1.625 – Gomez 7.357/ Desharnais 0.850 – Gio 5
Darche 0.7 – Eller 1.27 – Trotter (0.750)
Moen 1.5 – Engqvist 0.900 – White (0.9)/Weber (righty) (1) (and on PP a la Streit)
Pyatt (0.6)
First call up – Palushaj
Markov (lefty) (5) – Gorges (lefty) (3)
Gill (lefty) 2.25 – Subban (righty) 0.875
Yemelin (lefty) 0.984 – Weber (righty) (1)/Spacek (lefty) 3.833
Spacek (lefty) 3.833 – Diaz (righty) 0.9
first call up – Nash (lefty)
Price 2.75
Auld (1)
-0.5 Laraque buyout
(would be better if could move Gomez and/or Spacek)
http://habsloyalist.blogspot.com/2011/02/gomez-effect.html
http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2010/11/24/1833979/disecting-the-gomez-connundrum#storyjump
Gomez for captain of the Hamilton Bulldogs?
Eklund is full of sh*t and Malone has a NMC. You have 25 players listed here… I very much doubt Trotter, Engqvist or Diaz would start the season in mtl.
Enqvist has an outside shot, especially if we don’t sign a 4th line Centre, but there’s no way the other two guys make the squad.
- Honestly yours
Agreed, but it’s unlikely we won’t sign a 4th liner. Wonder if white will ever play center again…
Really good sign !i think markov is done with all the injures he had the last couples of years and he is gonna bounce back !i love reading nice news like that !keep going Gauth !
go habs GO
One way or the other we have to find a way to draft this kid Gabriel Landeskog, currently of the Kitchener Rangers. SeriousFan, what’s the story on this kid? I just watched a video of him on BarstoolSportsPhiladelphia, he looks like money in the bank for whoever drafts him. Swedish kid that everybody thinks is Canadian because of how he plays and he learned english well enough that he outdoes teammates in school, he’s 18. He’s obviously smart and from what I saw super talented.
Born and Bred in Enemy Territory (Boston).
Wow. I don’t know what a sure bet looks like in junior and these promo videos are always a thing of beauty, but this kid is interesting. Smart, big, fights, overachiever…
How high is he slated to go? Ouch. No 2… He’s going to Colorado… Just as long as he’s not a Bruin, I’ll be happy.
“To be irreplaceable, you have to be different”.
Andy Warhol
Go PK Go!
He’s a top-5 pick, from what I read.
I forgot where I heard it, but someone told me he has huge bust potential.
Not rare at all for Scandinavians (Danes, Swedes and Norwegians) to speak excellent English. When my dad was growing up in Denmark in the 1930′s and 40′s, they were required to take a number of languages each year, with Danish and English basically mandatory most years. He ended up being fluent in Danish, English, Swedish, Norwegian, German and Latin (although he never could get a handle on French, and always claimed that Finnish was a bear to learn).
We already have our top six:
Cam-Plek-AK46(none of us are too crazy about)
Patches-Gomez-Gio
Bottom 6:
Darche-Desharnais- Eller/ Pouliot(???)
Moen-(ufa)-White(c/rw)
Defense(not in this order):
Subban-Gill
Yemelin-Markov(WILL sign)
Spacek/Weber – Gorges (Likely to sign)
UFAs: Wiz ( hopefully but I have a feeling he’ll take a spot in Detroit), Halpern…. was supposed to be our faceoff guy but spent more time being kicked out of the circle than in so I doubt it. Mara and Sopel…Ciao. Hamrlik if Wiz doesn’t sign is likely but not for sure. We’ll have roughly 7 mil left over and if management feels the D is strong enough then that cash could land something notable.
With one or two more in that category I feel confident the Habs will be a cup contender next year. Not saying all the way but semis at least. I’ve questioned some of PG’s moves in the past but overall I think he’s securing a helluva team for the next two years and won’t have too much difficulty retaining it afterwards. We’re headed in the right direction.
-When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro-
You know what’s sad? Markov can still get paid the same money as his last contract even though he has barely played the past couple of seasons and is a potential house of cards. What happened to the days of incentives? I would have given him a $3M base and he could earn up to $3M more depending on how many games and minutes per game he played.
L Train
Even though Markov loves this team, he would have laughed in Gautier’s face and walked off to free agency to earn more money than he’s getting now if we offered him a base salary of $3m. I’m sure he’s more concerned about his injury and future security than we are; he probably would not accept a games played bonus when even he’s uncertain about re-injury.
Realistically, on the market he’d probably have gotten a longer term and/or a higher base salary than we gave him.
Totally agree. He should get the 3 to 4 base and an extra 1 if he plays x amount of games and another 1 for a full 82. Thats just me. I’m sure PG and his agent will have another idea but hey, we’re all here to express our opinions as armchair GMs afterall……
-When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro-
Ridiculous.
Sorry, Maio, but more to gain by signin’m and more to lose by not.
It’s an EXCELLENT contract.
Gone figuratively fishin filibusts L. B. Potter, esq.
CBA prohibits performance bonuses except in entry-level contracts and contracts for players age 35 and older.
That’s not entirely accurate. Provisions are made for player that have missed significant injury time over the previous few years. Markov definitely falls into that category, and would be eligible for a bonus-type contract. That being said, this is the final year the CBA, so any bonuses would count against the cap anyways. Might as well just give him the whole deal regardless. No sense in alienating him.
Know what’s sad? Thinking Markov would have signed for 3mil. What you been smoking?
If I were PG I would absolutly sign Wiz (even though with Markov signed that money would be better spent on a top 6 forward) for the following reasons:
1) in case Markov gets injured, he is as best a backup plan we could find
2) If Markov is back to his old self and things are going well with our D, we could use Wiz as trade bait for a solid top 6 forward at the trade dead line.
I think this is the best option since we all know that there really isnt much available right now in terms of top 6 forwards UFAs and this is the only way to ensure we do not lose another Solid player for whom we paid a 2nd round pick for nothing…
btw, I just read some of the other posts and reallized this is pretty much already said …lol so sorry if it seems like I repeated something I saw here b/c I hadnt read the posts before I posted this…
For you wizmaniacs out there, PG has around 14 million left. He still has to sign white, webber, gorges, a backup goalie, an ass kicking 4th liner (we hope). That’s going to cost about 7. That leaves another 7. We know PG likes keeping a couple million in leaky roof money, so figure 5 mill for a top 6 or the wiz. I’m thinking they make a play for a top 6 with size. If that doesn’t work, they may take a run at wiz but he may be a bruin or redwing by then. they may end up with that money unspent. You never know on ufa day.
A top 6 forward with size is probably our club’s biggest need, but this year’s FA pickings are rather slim. As such, I’d rather we signed Wiz to a fair contract. At the very least he’d be a good back-up plan on the PP if Marky gets hurt again. Plus, we’d also then be able to trade him after a year or two for that top-6 winger, or maybe high draft picks or good prospects (depending on the team’s needs). This way we don’t lose him for nothing along with the 2nd round pick we spent to get him.
- Honestly yours
Good ideas as usual. I think there’s a good chance Gauthier is on the same page, making it all come together is a different story though.
Thanks man. And yeah, you’re right. Making it all come together depends on a lot of things, mostly Wiz’s intentions and PG’s plans.
- Honestly yours
Markov – Gorgie
Emelin/Diaz
Soobie- Jimmy
Webber-Gill
7) Spaceman
Edit: huh, so that’s what #8 + right parenthesis does…
Gone figuratively fishin filibusts L. B. Potter, esq.
It looks good to us armchair GMs on the internet Bugs, but a veteran who makes 3.5M (or whatever) doesn’t get the pressbox. It just doesn’t happen.
Ballard was making $4M in the press box most of the playoffs…
If a newcomer has proven to be more able-bodied in a majority of the facets of the game, yes it does happen.
The argument works against Emelin (that I said on previous page), not necessarily againt Webber.
Webber has a case; Emelin doesn’t.
Gone figuratively fishin filibusts L. B. Potter, esq.
the habs pp while in the top 10 did not have a solid feel to it…i my be wrong but is seems they scored their pp goals in bunches and had many poor games…the pp did not have the feel to it that it can score clutch goals
As I recall, our power play was consistently impressive through the mid to late season. It was, however, consistently abysmal at the start of the year, accounting for it not being ranked higher.
With the return of Markov and Subban’s continued offensive development throughout last season and into the next, I foresee it being an even greater strength next year.
Further, it scored a very clutch goal in the playoff-clinching Blackhawks game, and in game 7 with the Bruins.
Scores in bunches, just like every other team.
Didn’t “feel” like a clutch PP? Subban, game 7.
Finally able to log-in and it was worth it seeing this news.
Has anyone ever thought about what we could do if they bought out Space-case and used the increase in cap space to sign the Wiz??
“Space-case” is over 35, signed at over 35 and is beyond the second year of his contract, thus buying him out would not result in a decrease to his cap hit.
Talik, yes this is true, but you also free up half of his salary. What is he making this up coming season?? Half of it goes to the cap, yes for the next 2 years, but that $1.5 you save this year along with the increase in cap space allows for his buy out leaving you similar numbers to this past season
not when you are over 35. you don’t free up half. you take on the full 3.75
Kooch….. ah fair enough! The minors it is then!!!!
um, Dave… nevermind.
@ LeDave
No, even if we sent him to Hamilton, we’d still be on the hook for his cap hit. That’s the way it goes for players on 35+ contracts.
Even if he left to sign in Europe or elsewhere we’d still be on the hook, I think.
The only way we can remove his cap hit from our books is if we traded him to another team.
- Honestly yours
@Mike D. What if Spacek decided to retire, not that he would or anything.
@ habrez
Same thing if he retires. We’d still be on the hook for the full cap hit unfortunately.
- Honestly yours
Only thing left is cold blooded murder. THAT frees up the cap.
Swear to gosh, look at the fine print!
Ok, sooo…how do we do this, execution-style or gangland-style?
Gone figuratively fishin filibusts L. B. Potter, esq.
Bugs, don’t the Kostitsins know a guy…?
Isn’t this also the guy who said Gomez was leaving before the trade deadline?