Agreed, that's the main misconception. People assume because of his size that he HAS to throw hits all the time but it's not his style of play.
As for who's going to get benched when Markov and O'Byrne come back, I'm not exactly worried about that. With the current defense group, it would be much wise to let O'Byrne and Markov both rest up and only come to play when they are 100% each since the Habs have a nice opportunity to ensure these guys come back stronger than ever on the ice. By the time the team does ice a full defensive unit, things might have changed via trades or injuries so it's not exactly worth scrambling our heads for right now.