He has been out since early last season after his second major knee injury. He had only returned for 7 games before he got injured for the second time.
Andrei "Knee-of-glass" Markov was a major contributor to the Canadiens' power play before his injury troubles. His greatest year was 2008-09 when he recorded 64 points in 78 games, and the year before that he played all 82 games.
A scene seen too often for Habs fans
The Habs are hoping that Markov can return to his old ways and avoid further injuries. These final 15 games remaining for the Canadiens are a test for Markov to see if his knee can hold up. And at a $5.75 million cap hit, Markov had better return to normal on a team that already has Scott Gomez certainly under-performing for his $7.3 million cap hit.
If Markov can go back to his old ways, he can aid a Canadiens' power play that has been struggling mightily this season. On a team that is used to being top 5 in the league in powerplay %, they are 26th in the league this year with just a 15.2% efficiency. The offensive defenseman will quarterback the powerplay and feed passes across to P.K. Subban with his big shot. This will take the pressure off of Subban, or Tomas Plekanec to carry the puck in and set it up.
Montreal brought in Tomas Kaberle this season to help fill the spot of Markov on the power play but he has been unable to fill the shoes. With Markov returning, Kaberle will be relied on much less, but he's still around with a $4.25 million cap hit.
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