I know he's under contract in Russia, but Valentenko was under contract here... as were Radulov and Perezhogin (although rfa's), and of course Malkin came this way while under contract... so why not offer him a 3million per year deal to come over? Mcguire says he has the talent to be the next Markov... so why not now?

He won't fill Markovs shoes necessarily, but he's a better option than any UFAs still out there...

Aside from the required $3M needed to be able to offer a $3M contract like you suggest, I'm not sure money is the determining factor for his decision to play in the KHL anyway.

In the short term, it appears as if Weber is Markov's replacement, it was noted during the Bulldogs-Marlies pregame that he'll be getting the call. If they're smart, they'll wait a couple hours to make it official.

this is sour topic for me and I will try to say my peace without offending orbeeing (very though for me as I am rude to even my loved ones).

1) this guy had the chance to sign witrh us this past summer and he opted to stay in the land of black bread and heart warming patato water.

2) I could not care less that he is playing for his father (Ass Coach, and I do mean A$$ cuz he, the father, did not say tell him, the son, the truth, KHL is a good league BUT the better league is the NHL, this is my op and I would mostlikly hold it till the day I die. It can change if the Stanley Cup is won only in the KHL ) if he wants to play with men in a REAL league then his a$$ should at the very least should already be in Hamilton were the rink is small but your balls need to be BIG to play.

3) I AM PISSED!!!!!! Until he shows that he is able/willing to play with MEN and get his bad self here in N.Am I will keep being pissed everytime I will see/hear his name. He can keep his a$$ out there if he wants to be a cry baby about this and that, we do not need another SK74, nor a Perezhogin or a Valentenko, good thing the last one help us get Gommer. Now only if he can start acting like a mini Hummer and get back in the traffick we will be fine with that last trade.

4) This is my last point: HOLY F%$# DO i WISH TO SEE HIM IN A HABS UNI SOON.

BTW: can't give him 3 mil a season, he still counts as a rookie if I'm not mistaken. If BGL, Mara and Gill can get the sal that they do then then hell give this kid a piece on the moon too. I saw some choice land for sale there just last week I bet that even if there is water just found there the price is still low

I always understood Emelin to be more a of Komisarek-type defenseman, not a Markov-type. I don't believe his offensive abilities are anywhere near those of Markov, but he is a big boy who can dish out a hit, block shots, and clear the zone.

If I'm totally wrong here, please let me know, lol.

I really don't expect Emelin to be the solution here since he's under contract in the KHL. It's too bad that he didn't come over because as we are experiencing, there are always injuries during the course of an 82-game season and eventually you will get your chance to prove you keep (Weber, we look to you).

Yea, the solution isn't some of the names that are being mentioned either. Let Weber see if he is ready.

MA Bergeron
Brisby
Dandy

and the others being mentioned aren'y going to cut it in my opinion, I think he needs to look else where for bigger names. He'll have some cap room, i honestly think Markov is infirtunately sdone for the year, Even if he is healthy after 4 months, from what i understand it's getting the movements and strength to skate well again that is the biggest issue with tendon injuries.

I think a lot of those rumours were to fill in as the 7th man at the time (also Christian Backman was mentioned). They weren't to be replacements per se, but just guys to support the remaining 6 (now 5 with O'Byrne down).

Give the kid (Weber) a chance. He looked okay in the playoffs.
Use the injury to make the back-ups stronger... at least until we start losing.

With Markov on long term injury, the money would be there... but as someone else said, he'd fall into the 'rookie cap' situation... 850k a year I think?

So... nevermind. An oversight on my part.

Common misconception - Markov has not been placed on LTIR as of yet (to the best of my knowledge at least) and will most likely not be unless a significant move is made beforehand. They will likely try their hand with the bonus cushion in the interim.

Perhaps a stupid question.... but why wouldn't they put him on the LTIR?

... I mean, other than preventing me from placing him on the IR in my fantasy pools...

You can only put a player on LTIR if you're going to actually use it immediately - it took well over a month before Lang hit LTIR last year - the fact he's not there yet suggests they're trying alternative methods such as the dreaded bonus cushion (or crossing their fingers and hoping it works in the end like last year). By the way, there's a difference between IR and LTIR - he's on regular IR already - so start hounding Yahoo as to why he's not on IR.