I'll say this much on Markov. He was never an iron man like Mark Recchi that's fore sure. And he did miss some games here and there. It's hockey, not chess. But he wasn't so bad before Carey Price dug his skate into his ankle and cut tendons. That sort of injury is rare and unpredictable. No one is immune to skate cuts.
Then he tore an ACL. Again it's a big deal but he's been playing high level hockey for a long time. Such injuries do happen. He might have rushed back or it didn't set properly and he re-injured the same ligament. So it's not like his whole body is falling to pieces. His only really issue now is the ACL. They preformed a different procedure to his knee from what I read and this time around they let t heal and no one including himself rushed to get back in the game. By not having played much hockey in the last few years, he gave the rest of his body a physical rest too.
So as far as I'm concerned, if the knee is healthy, there shouldn't be much to fear. But if his knee gives out again it's not going to look very good..
"2005/11/28 Suspended by the NHL three games for shoving a linesman on November 6."
Goon...
I remember. It came after an OT loss to Toronto after a BS tripping call to Markov, when he dove to the ice to stop a pass and a Leafs player tripped over it (after the stick made contact with the puck).
Claude Julien was the coach at the time and he was yelling at Markov to get off the ice. By then it was too late. Markov had grabbed the linesmen and shoved him back.
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"CS is one of my favorite people on this entire site." - ColePens
Better game than I was expecting so far. Markov seems to be playing a stay at home role, at least since I started watching. He's been playing very conservatively so I can't get a good grasp on how his skating is, he's been willing to go along the boards to fight for the puck though. The game has been mostly in Vityaz's end so he hasn't had the puck much.
Resting from what? You think he's tired by playing 20 games in 2 years?
He needs to play to get back in game shape.
That's 100% true he need to play, if he get hurt and end up his career by playing in the most physical/gooning/protective team in a non-physical Olympic sized rink league well that was bound to happen in the NHL very soon. It would sucks, but at least the management would be able to know they need to completely replace the guy and his salary.
Perhaps some people with opinions about Markov need some rest !
The last time a player this good, got this much bashing, we sent him out
to pasture in Anaheim.
