Andrei Markov Autographed Card

Remember a month ago when I lambasted the Arizona Coyotes for their handling of the Shane Doan situation?

Well, huh. It turns out the organization usually considered to be the classiest in the NHL, the Montréal Canadiens, are not beyond reproach in that regard, GM Marc Bergevin going out of his way to make Andrei Markov look bad in what now looks like a one-way breakup between the 16-year veteran and a team that seems to renege on not only its core "family-like" values but also any logical plan.

Indeed, Bergevin keeps repeating he wants defensive depth, yet this summer alone he's let Russian rearguards Markov, Alexei Emelin, future Norris candidate Mikhail Sergachev and Nikita Nesterov, as well as former future Markov replacement Nathan Beaulieu, go. In return, he got emerging star forward Jonathan Drouin and a third-round pick in a weak 2017 amateur draft.

That's after last year's widely panned one-for-one trade of P.K. Subban (an actual Norris winner who still has a decade of play left in him) for Shea Weber. For two years in a row, Bergevin went and got the exact player his team needed, but overpaid both times. Weber has three, maybe four decent years left and is signed until five years after the Apocalypse, whereas Subban just added a new dimension to the Nashville Predators. Weber - a slowing veteran who had just cost the Preds a Game 7 by being -5 in a 5-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks - was not worth a current Norris contender on the market, regardless of how you slice it. A star forward, perhaps, considering the very same day, Taylor Hall was traded for Adam Larsson, but not a better, younger, faster defenseman signed long-term but for fewer years, let alone one as charismatic as Subban.

For his part, Drouin is exactly the forward the team needs to spark the offense the way Alex Kovalev used to - and he's a local boy to boot. But the Tampa Bay Lightning were about to leave him exposed in the expansion draft, and would have had to offer a lot for the Vegas Golden Knights not to select him. And Drouin, a quick setup man who can stickhandle well and has a decent shot, is not fit to play center, just like Alex Galchenyuk, except "Chucky" already has a 30-goal season under his belt. Drouin for the "struggling" Galchenyuk? Fair to both teams. Sergachev, a young stud defenseman who didn't have to be protected at the expansion draft? That's called a fleecing.

Adding the fact that the Habs also lost Alexander Radulov this summer to free agency this summer and overpaid to keep Carey Price for three more years than necessary, which will hurt the team's cap for half a dozen years, the outlook for deep playoff runs in Montréal looks pretty bleak. Especially with the team's lack of a #1 center.

Taking all of that into consideration, as well as the $8.5M cap space available this coming season (Price's deal will only be effective starting in 2018-19), the Habs could have met most of Markov's salary demands.

To recap, last winter, his ex-wife died of cancer, forcing The General to take his bye week off in Russia to bring his pre-school twins back to Montréal. He calculated he'd need to play two more seasons to raise his three children - he has another with his new wife - without worrying too much about money, perhaps taking a job as an assistant coach when his playing days would be over. His ask was of $6M per, a slight increase from the $5.75M cap hit he carried in his previous contract.

We're talking about a 16-year veteran, an alternate captain and Team Russia's captain in many international events including a World Championship and an Olympic, a guy who played above his salary for just about every year he's been in the NHL, whose subdued and subtle play has earned the likes of Mark Streit, Mike Komisarek, Sheldon Souray and Subban massive contracts - the first three on other teams, at wages they couldn't match production-wise without #79 at their side, two of whom (Komisarek and Souray) retired in shame - and even drew praise for Norris-winner Subban as the "best defenseman on the team" for all the years he's followed hockey, not just as a teammate.

We're talking about the guy who took every single Russian player who came to the team under his wing for over a decade, and non-Russian defenders such as Beaulieu, Subban, Greg Pateryn, Mark Tinordi, Jean-Philippe Côté, Yannick Weber, Mathieu Carle and many others as well.

We're talking about the guy who was the best defenseman on the team in every month last year save for October (Weber had an amazing start that had fans salivating early on), at age 37-38.

It would have been easy for Bergevin to say "we're tight against the cap, how about 6.5 or 7 this year for a one-year deal, and a verbal agreement that on your 39-year-old contract next summer, when you may be falling into a third-pairing role, something along the lines of 3.5?", but instead he offered a one-year deal at $4.25M, in a "take it or leave it" tone.

Markov came back accepting a one-year deal, only to be told it was no longer on the table after the low-cost signature of Streit, who was the Pittsburgh Penguins' #8 or 9 defenseman on their Stanley Cup drive. If - and that's a pretty big if - the Pens have a better defense than the Habs, it isn't by much; Streit won't go from a #8 to a #2, he'll be a #6 at best, ideally a healthy scratch at times, considering he's actually a year older than Markov and never had his skill-set to begin with.

This move/decision is both a PR nightmare and a horrible hockey decision. A few weeks ago, Bergevin said "if you want loyalty, buy a dog"; good luck signing free agents with that kind of thinking made public.

Last year, I compared the Subban/Weber trade to the one that sent Patrick Roy to the Colorado Avalanche in 1995, an event that made me stop watching regular-season NHL hockey for seven years, and follow only the Avs and Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs. I boycotted the Habs for the entire season last year, and went to see the Ottawa Senators three times instead, buying my Mom a Craig Anderson jersey while I was at it.

The Markov situation just adds sadness to my frustration. It's not just that they sell you these guys that you learn to love watching, it's that they throw them out like they're nothing afterwards and are already selling you the next one before you've even got your head around it, yet the team just keeps circling the same drain, one year adding five defensemen during the season because "you can never have enough depth", the next adding "weight and toughness" in the guise of (Shea) Weber, Steve Ott, Andreas Martinsen and Dwight King, yet not retaining half of them when the team gets ousted in the first round by the Wild Card New York Rangers.

So I'm done with the Habs. At least until Bergevin's fired, but perhaps even longer.

I was keeping this card for Markov's 1000th game, which may never come now that he'll be suiting up in the KHL until Bergevin's gone, remaining stuck at 990, with 572 points (119 goals and 453 assists) to show for it, good for second on the Canadiens' all-time list, behind Larry Robinson and tied with Guy Lapointe; it's card #125 from Upper Deck's 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee set, showing him wearing the team's best alternate uniform, the "reverse-red into white" one from 1944-47 that the team brought back during its centennial celebrations:

As a matter of fact, one can notice the Centennial patch on Markov's right shoulder in the picture.

He signed the card in blue sharpie during the 2015-16 season.

2016 World Cup Figurines Review

Last September, I purchased three 2016 World Cup of Hockey figurines by Imports Dragon, and I must say I was let down a bit. I mean, I get that they didn't have a lot of time to produce and market them, but still, some of their flaws show a definite drop in quality from the ones I'd purchased years ago from McFarlane Toys.

Back in the day, McFarlane made awesome sports-related toys, as well as film-related and music-themed ones; I had Slash from Guns N' Roses, Angus Young from AC/DC, Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead, all of Metallica, Freddie Kruger from the Nightmare On Elm Street films, Little Nicky from the Adam Sandler movie, Michael Myers from the Halloween series, Eric Draven from The Crow, Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft from the remake, Edward Scissorhands, but the highlights were my hockey figurines, including four of Patrick Roy (red and white Montréal Canadiens uniforms, and burgundy and white Colorado Avalanche uniforms), a couple of Wayne Gretzky (black Los Angeles Kings uniform, white Edmonton Oilers with the Stanley Cup), P.K. Subban (Habs red), Miikka Kiprusoff (red Calgary Flames uniform), Saku Koivu (Habs white), Mats Sundin for some reason (Toronto Maple Leafs blue, with a crooked pin under his skate), four of Joe Sakic (white Avs uniform, burgundy and alternate as well, and Québec Nordiques blue), Cristobal Huet (Habs red), Chris Chelios (Canadiens red), and Jose Theodore (Habs red, which I had him sign the base of).

Most of them were stolen, so I tried moving on, although I have purchased smaller ones of comics/film characters Batman and Black Widow in the past couple of years, which got me started again. My favourite of the three hockey ones is, of course, that of my favourite goalie (and by far the best of the tournament), Jaroslav Halak, sporting Team Europe's white (away) uniform, in a butterfly/glove save stance:

One thing I don't like is they are too rigid to change positions, yet fragile enough that you feel they might break if you tried, so I left his glove arm bent towards the back:

I'm not certain how realistic his waist size is, here... And here's the back:

Where I have the biggest issue, however, is with the otherwise pretty Tomas Plekanec (wearing the Czech Team's red uniform) and Andrei Markov (Team Russia white):

Their faces are their own, but the bodies come from the exact same mold, they just painted different uniforms and numbers on them:

McFarlane had a habit of re-using a player's mold for different teams and/or uniforms - OF THE SAME PLAYER; they didn't recycle them on their entire line.

Also, the Plekanec is missing his captain's "C":

And here's the Markov on its own:

They're worth it for how nice the uniforms are on their own, basically Adidas versions of their usual international jerseys, but decent ones. However, the toys themselves don't compare favourably to their predecessors, although I will readily admit that even McFarlane's quality had gone down when they started making too many per year.

McFarlane series 1-10: 9/10
McFarlane series 11-33: 8/10
Imports Dragon World Cup: 6.5/10

Edit, June 9th, 2017: According to the pictures on this Beckett Hockey page, they seem to have five player molds and three goalie molds. It's still incredibly lazy.

Andrei Markov Double Jersey Card

Andrei Markov made a bit of Montréal Canadiens history tonight as he tied Guy Lapointe for second for points by a defenseman in franchise history. That's nearly 110 years of history, folks.

He is without a doubt the most underrated NHL player of his generation, having never finished higher than sixth in Norris Trophy voting despite being one of the five best passers in the game (with Joe Thornton, Jason Spezza, Mike Ribeiro and Sidney Crosby) for most of that stretch.

By playing alongside him, Sheldon Souray, Mark Streit, Mike Komisarek and P.K. Subban all had career years that led to signing huge contracts, each with Norris consideration (Subban actually won); Streit did a decent, honest job captaining the New York Islanders upon leaving the Habs, and Subban is a superstar and likely will remain one for the next decade, but Souray and Komisarek could never live up to the expectations their contracts promised - mainly because they priced themselves out of playing with Markov, but also because there wasn't anyone like him where they went.

The General went through a dark period in December 2015 when he split with long-time partner Natalia Streckova, and his play was affected for a month or two, leading many talk radio callers to voice their opinion that he should be traded; they're no longer saying that this year, as he's back to his usual dominating, smart self on the ice, even helping Shea Weber look better than he has in years.

Unfortunately, Streckova died of cancer earlier this year, forcing Markov to travel to Russia to repatriate his twin five-year-old sons during the team's bye week last month.

It remains to be seen how many top-level seasons the 38-year-old has left in him - realistically, he should start slowing down next year and perhaps retire at 40, as a #3-5 defender, following the 2018-19 season. On any other team, he'd see his jersey number raised to the rafters the following October, but the Habs have nearly-impossible standards to meet before one gets that privilege: individual hardware, a Stanley Cup AND a Hall Of Fame nod seem to be the minimum-required elements for that honour. Markov, Team Russia's captain, winner of World Championship gold (2008) and bronze (2005 and 2007) medals and World Juniors silver (1998) and bronze (1997) is not the type to cry his way onto a Norris like Drew Doughty did last year.

He's the consummate team player, always putting the team's success above his own; in that regard, what's missing on his mantle isn't a Norris but a Stanley Cup and Olympic gold. His odds are about the same for each - I'll put them at 10:1 - but you want a guy who's worked so hard at his craft and even harder for it not to show to get his dues. I hope he does.

Here he is wearing the Habs' classic white (now-away) uniform on card #MTL-AM from Upper Deck's 2011-12 Black Diamond set and Double Diamond Jerseys sub-set, sporting his usual alternate captain's "A":

It contains two red game-worn jersey swatches.

Andrei Markov Swatch Card

Andrei Markov had a tremendous start to his season, but he's taken a bit of heat from Montréal Canadiens fans for sub-par play more or less since the new year, with a few boos being heard in the Bell Centre and some internet chatter requesting GM Marc Bergevin trade him for draft picks in a tanking effort.

Regular readers know I won't be one of those. Markov's play this past decade warrants him retiring with the team, and he will not be overpaid next year with his $5.75M cap hit in his (hopefully) final season for the sole reason that he's played at around the same salary for the past five years and played better than anyone else making that much in the NHL, so one season below value balances out four that he played well over.

He was the best player on the team for the better part of his tenure, equaled here and there for short stints by the likes of Jaroslav Halak, Michael Cammalleri, and Saku Koivu which, you'll agree, is relatively sad for a legendary franchise.

So, should his minutes be cut down to plateau around 20 minutes per game? Probably. And, hey, 20 minutes per game is still top-two minutes, which he likely still is. Retiring at that level (assuming he retires when his contract ends in 2016-17) would put him close to the Nicklas Lidstrom category, therefore above that of a Zdeno Chara, which is also where I see his legacy falling into.

That is to say, I was probably the best person to fall on this two-colour swatch card of his from Panini's 2012-13 Titanium set (and Game-Worn Gear sub-set):

It's card #GG-AN in the series and is numbered 39/50, and shows him in the Habs' white (away) uniform, with the alternate captain's "A" that defined his career.

Andrei Markov Jersey Card

After four games and a full week of play, who leads the entire NHL in plus/minus?

None other than Andrei Markov, one of my favourite players in the entire world, perhaps the most underrated defenseman of the past decade.

The General has captained Team Russia on a couple of occasions, and has won gold once (at the 2008 World Championships in Québec and Halifax), silver at the 1998 World Juniors and bronze three times (1997 World Juniors, as well as at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships).

He's a quiet leader who chooses his words very carefully, which has long made him an underdog in talks of being the next Montréal Canadiens captain; the only Russian player ever to hold that title has been Alexei Kovalev, and the flamboyant forward only did so when Saku Koivu was out of commission. But Markov's not in it for the awards or the glory.

An old-school Russian, he plays hard, facing only forward and not stopping until the final buzzer sounds, preferably in a win. No matter how the win is acquired, as long as he knows he's done his best and that the end result is satisfactory.

It ts that mentality that got him to become the premier passer from the blue line despite being a contemporary of Nicklas Lidstrom and Scott Niedermayer. He's as happy watching someone else score off a one-timer from one of his through-four-pairs-of-skates passes as he would be sending it himself past the opposing goalie.

It's what makes him an ideal candidate to wear the ''A'' on his jersey, the fact that everything is always so meticulously calculated, so precise, like a game of chess - whether it's what happens on the ice or what he tells the media in post-game scrums. He takes the time to reflect, pauses, then goes for the kill in one short stroke. Ten seconds later, he's made his point.

Because he speaks so little and because English is his second language, some journalists have had a hard time deciphering his true intentions, reading way more into his words than he'd intended to let on - but that's not his problem.

More often than not, though, everyone's just content with the way he lets his play speak for itself. Chances are P.K. Subban will also make the Habs' all-time list of great defensemen, but in my opinion, Markov ranks right up there on the second step of the pedestal, alongside Serge Savard, Larry Robinson and Chris Chelios; Doug Harvey stands alone on the top row, while Jean-Claude Tremblay, Émile ''Butch'' Bouchard and Guy Lapointe are on the third step of the podium.

Here is #79 blasting one towards the net, on card #GJ-AM from Upper Deck's 2011-12 Series 1 set (part of the UD Game Jersey sun-set):

He's wearing the team's white (now-away) uniform, and the card includes a blue game-worn jersey swatch - presumably from the Habs' red (home) jersey.

Andrei Markov Autograph Card

And now the final card in my trade with Kyle, the most consistent NHL defenseman of the past decade not named Nicklas Lidstrom (and my favourite), Andrei Markov:

It's from Upper Deck's 2009-10 Be A Player set (card #S-AM of the Signatures sub-set) and shows him wearing the Montréal Canadiens' white (away) uniform, with the team's Centennial patch on the right shoulder.

I've featured him twice before, so I won't dwell on his past so much, but I will say that after two seasons of just about not playing due to injury, he came back with a vengeance last year, dominating on the blue line and helping teammate P.K. Subban get his hands on the Norris trophy and earning the nickname ''The General'' from head coach Michel Therrien.

In fact, Markov specializes in making his partners look great (and earn huge paychecks), as he has done with Sheldon Souray (who broke a team record for powerplay goals by a defenseman from The General's perfect set-up passes) to Mike Komisarek to Mark Streit (who was often a healthy scratch or even used as a forward before Markov's passes made him a powerplay specialist). Subban's just the latest.

The General will even get to play in the Olympics in his home country in a couple of weeks, as he'll be Russia's leader on the blue line. He'll probably need some rest eventually, as he's currently playing the most minutes in his career - unless that's a ploy by Therrien to help Canada by tiring its opponents (he's also using Czech captain Tomas Plekanec a whole lot against the other teams' best forwards, and is not doing much to wake up American Olympian Max Pacioretty, in the midst of a long cold streak)...

Andrei Markov Autograph Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

With Panini resuscitating past 1990s brands Score, Donruss and the like and re-using some of the early sets' designs, Upper Deck - already manufacturers of the Fleer and O-Pee-Chee formerly-standalone brands - one-upped the retro market with their 2012-13 Fleer Retro set: the main set consists of merely 100 base cards, but there are tons of inserts, all of which use classic Fleer and Skybox designs.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a box for $160 (I've seen them go up to $250), and as I made the count in my head (100 cards per box, including 6 autographs), I figured I may as well go for it. If worse came to worse (say, all ''hits'' being of the Phoenix Coyotes and/or Columbus Blue Jackets) or if it went too well (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and/or Alex Ovechkin), Ebay could become my friend. Almost any other dream situation (finally getting a Joe Sakic or Wayne Gretzky autograph! - didn't happen - or a few Montréal Canadiens players) or regular situation (decent prospects, players I like and respect), I'd keep the cards.

My very first hit was of the Habs player I respect the most, Andrei Markov. While I've seen the card on Ebay since, going anywhere from $1 to $10, in my heart, having pulled it myself, it's pretty much priceless:

It's a sticker autograph, signed in blue sharpie. It's from the 1999 Skybox insert sub-set (card #99-AM), found approximately in every 20 packs. It shows Markov wearing the Habs' white (away) uniform, sporting the 'A' as he has been for three years.

Coach Michel Therrien has taken to calling him The General because his play was so dominating at the beginning of the season, though he seemed to slow down by the end of the season, especially in comparison to young stud P.K. Subban, Norris trophy winner. I, for one, think Subban wouldn't have gotten the trophy without Markov by his side, for one, and also, considering he'll turn 35 in December and his lack of playing time these past couple of years, think his 25 minutes of ice time per game may have been a tad too much in a shortened season where teams played four times a week. Of the old-school Russian mentality, Markov didn't stay at home for optional practices, and never takes a day off unless forced to. Like Charlie Sheen, he only has one gear: ''GO!'' 

With a full season under his belt (he played in the KHL during the lock-out) and now aware of his new limitations (particularly in regards to top-speed and pivoting), he should be back in the shape that made him one of the league's 5 best defenders for a decade, and may be worth putting on the ice for 22 or 23 minutes per game without trouble.

I just wish the once-savvy and knowledgeable Montréal crowd realized how important he and Tomas Plekanec are to the club and stopped talking about trading them. Sure, as their age rises and as their roles diminish, their salaries should do the same, but these home-grown, faithful veterans deserve to retire wearing the CH crest.

Andrei Markov: 3 Autographed Cards

For the past decade or so, Andrei Markov has been the best - and most consistent - player for the Montréal Canadiens. His savant, instinctive style of play and deft, unbelievable through-3-opponents diagonal passes have made the team's powerplay a force to be reckoned with and a top-5 threat in the league for years. Well, until Carey Price slit his tendon - accidentally, of course - prompting a 2-season streak of freak injuries to occur, and the powerplay to become a joke.

His importance to the team is such that I would have chosen him as team captain after Saku Koivu's departure. He was the best player, he had the longest tenure on the roster, and was coming out of his shell, a long way from the shy introvert of seasons past. He had even shown leadership skills by contesting calls from referees on the ice, and coming into contact with one, and taken to face the press every night.

It would also have been fitting, for such a storied team who played USSR All-Star teams on several occasions to name its first official Russian captain during the Centennial season (Alex Kovalev served as replacement captain in the past few seasons when Koivu went down to injuries).

Speaking of the Centennial, this card from Upper Deck's amazing 2009-10 Artifacts set (card #88) shows Markov wearing the team's home (red) uniform with both commemorative patches on the shoulders: the ''100'' logo on the right shoulder, and the All Star Game logo on the left.

The 2010-11 Artifacts card from UD (card #31) - below, left - also sports the duel patches, while the one on the right, from Panini's 2011-12 Score set (card #255) only has the ''100'' logo on the right shoulder - the picture was taken in the 2009-10 season, when the Habs didn't host the All Star Game (they did so during the 2008-09 season, in February 2009, as the actual 100 year ''date'' commemorated the fact that the team was founded in 1909, split over two seasons because these don't match with calendar years.

I sent Mr. Markov these 3 cards and a fan letter detailing why he was my favourite Hab on February 13th, 2012, and got them all back signed in blue sharpie, with his number (79) added at the end, on March 29th, 2012. Honestly, I didn't think I was getting these back - I thought players with his stature may have been ''too good'' to respond to fan mail. But he did, in 5 weeks' time, during which he also came back to play 8 games so far. And while he looked a little bit rusty in his skating, he retains his position as best passer on the team. And he's acting as a mentor for hard-hitting rookie Alexei Emelin.

With GM Pierre Gauthier gone, I no longer fear Markov will be traded (he's traded away most of my favourite players except Markov, Tomas Plekanec and P.K. Subban) and am confident we'll have a terrific season next year.