Montreal Canadiens’ defenseman Andrei Markov signs with the Vityaz Chekhov in KHL
Andrei Markov, a Russian professional ice hockey player who plays for Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL), has signed for Vityaz Chekhov, a Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) team in Russia.
The 33-year-old defenseman, who has been associated with Canadiens setup for last 12 years, since he joined them for the first time in 2000, has been playing for them in the Northeast Division of the Eastern conference and has only left the team while playing
for their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliates Quebec Citadelles in 2001-2002 season or 2004-2005 season when there was an NHL lockout.
When there was an NHL lockout before, in 2004-2005, Markov had moved to Dynamo Moscow, a team that plays in the Russian Super League (RSL) and had many of the people with him, who would now accompany him at his new team.
Born in Voskresensk, Russia, he holds the nationality of both Canada and Russia but plays international hockey for Russia and that must be the reason he chose a Russian team over all the teams.
The blue liner also has not been playing much of the hockey in recent years as he remained injured for most of the time in last 3 years and featured in only 45 games in 2009-2010 season, 7 games in 2010-2011 season and 13 games in 2011-2012 season.
He would naturally be looking forward to some action and that is exactly what he told when he was asked about it. He considers himself lucky that he has got a chance once again to play hockey and he would be looking to make the most of it, as he said,
"I'm very pleased to be in this team and grateful for the opportunity to become a part of the team”.
Markov is also happy to re-join some of the people who accompanied him seven years ago in the lockout when he was in Moscow, Russia. He also thinks that it would help him and he would not take much time in getting settled down, as he said,
"I know a lot of the guys and it won't be hard work for me to move into the group."
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