Markov Signs New Deal in Montreal

Being somewhat injury prone over the past few seasons wasn't going to hold the Montreal Canadiens back from giving Andrei Markov a brand new deal the night before the Entry Draft. No, in fact, the Habs gave their premier scoring defenseman a 3-year deal, reported to be worth $17.25 million, which works out to be a $5.75 million per season against the cap.

Markov only played in seven games in the 2011 season, which is why there is no picture of him from this past season, thanks to a devastating knee injury.  In those seven games, Markov did score 1 goal and add 2 assists for 3 points, which really isn't a silver lining at all.  When he is healthy and he is on his game, Markov is one of the top five defensemen in blueline scoring, so there is always potential for big numbers.

Forwards	Defense	Goalies
Tomas Plekanec	P.K. Subban	Carey Price
Mike Cammalleri	Jaroslav Spacek
Brian Gionta	Hal Gill
Andrei Kostitsyn	Andrei Markov
Scott Gomez
Mathieu Darche
Max Pacioretty
Lars Eller
Travis Moen

This is the first major post from the Canadiens' Pool Outlook a month ago and already the team table looks a bit different. The pre-frenzy moves have been key for Montreal, as you can already see.

The Canadiens now have 15 players signed onto their team table (10 forwards, four defense and a goalie), plus a buyout on the books, for the reasonable projection of $48.5 million.  That leaves around $15.8 million on the coffers for five to eight players before hitting the salary cap floor or the maximum roster.  The Habs already have a solid core group of players signed, both offensively and defensively, so it will be some clever additions that will really make this team hum.

I can acknowledge an offensive juggernaut like Markov, but I don't think I could ever pick him for my hockey pool team... unless no one else picked him and I need one more defenseman to finish off my team. He's not going to be my first of second blueliner, if I'm going to take Markov, it will be to make him the biggest bargain in the pool. Unfortunately, he's popular enough among the Habs fans in my pools that will snap him with blind faith.  To them, I say... good luck.