andrei markov info

[billsandsabres]

the montreal correspondent for espn fantasy hockey says that markov is poised to break into the nhl's elite defenseman
what do you habs fans think of that statement?
i can honestly say that i don't know a whole lot about markov, so what are his strengths and weaknesses and what role will he play with montreal this year? how many points do you think he will score?

thanks for your input

[Mathieu Lavergne]

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.p...arkov+scouting

This thread should be a good way to answer your question, we did a scouting report on most habs player this summer and this one is about Markov. You'll find the opinion of some of the best poster around here.

[Double XX L]

Frankly I agree with the guy.

Markov is almost at the elite NHL defenceman level. He was drafted in '98 in the later rounds as a centreman, and even won some sort of player of the year accolades in Russia. When moving him up to the elite level in his homw country, they decided that his skating was way too slow to be an effective Top gear forward, so they changed him to a rear guard, where he responded favourably.

He struggled with English his first few years after crossing the pond, and was almost on the verge of heading back to play in Russia (out of frustration of not making the team), when he went on an unbelieveable roll in then Quebec (12 GP, 10 Pts, +12, 4G)
We called him up and he proved he was there to stay (Michel Therrien always limited his time to play udder crap like Traverse, and others).

Last year he came in to the training camp, as the top offensive Defence man. and the habs faith in him paid off as he had a great season last year. Here we are now with a guy who fights positionally to maintain advantages in footraces (and wins almost every time). His shot from the point is great. and his creative eye (passing) is to put it simply the best on the point (rivals Koivu I would say).

Yes, Markov is definately on the way to stardom in the NHL, I expect that he could very well be top 5 Defensive scoring by as early as THIS year.