Montreal Canadiens fans are eager for Ivan Demidov to come over and join their favorite team, but the prized prospect still has a year left on his contract with SKA St. Petersburg. Fear not though, until his contract expires, the Montreal media will cover anything Demidov related, if he sneezes, you’ll know it. Yes, I am exaggerating, but only just.
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The Canadiens faithful are known as a special breed across the league, a fandom who eats, sleeps and breathes hockey. When they fall in love with a player, they fall hard. Over the years they’ve had quite a few love affairs with Russian players and here are a few of the most intense ones.
The General
For 16 seasons and 990 games Andrei Markov stood tall on the Montreal Canadiens’ blueline. Like fine wine, he improved from the moment he put on the jersey at 22 ’till he was 30, scoring 64 points in his last full season before the injury ninja came knocking and claimed his anterior cruciate ligament.
Markov had fought plenty of other battles in his life and even though he had to go under the knife to fix the knee twice in two years, he was always going to be back on the ice. When he did come back, his skating wasn’t quite as smooth as it was before the injuries, but what he had lost in mobility he made up for in hockey smarts.
Related: Canadiens: Who’s Been Through Dach’s Injury?
When I was a kid, I had a book titled A Lesson in Tenacity: Louis Pasteur. Years later, they published another one on the same topic. It featured Maurice “Rocket” Richard but they could do a third edition and have Markov as the star. Coming back from ACL reconstruction surgery is not easy, doing it twice and still being dominant? That’s quite a feat.
Quebecers do love their strong, silent types and that’s exactly what Markov was. The silent leader who never complained and never blinked was born to be a Montreal Canadiens.
While he wasn’t all that vocal about it when he was still active, Markov loved them back. So much so that he even applied to get his Canadian citizenship and got it. As he confirmed to TVA Sports earlier this week in an interview about Demidov, he loves the city and the fact fans still stop him in the street for autographs and pictures.
In his 990 games with the Sainte-Flanelle, the Russian blueliner put up 572 points and was as liable up front as he was in the back end. A true complete player and one the Canadiens have been missing dearly for years. The fact he wasn’t allowed…