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Markov


brobin

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Well, they are now saying Markov won't be ready for training camp and may or may not start the season due to a setback with his knee (water on it).

Here we go.. signed him up and his knee is as doubtful as ever. I hope he is not out long, but I don't want him coming back too early either.

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Judas Priest. I'm trying not to overreact, but this gets to what I've maintained for a while - the D has too many question marks and Hammer probably should have been retained. Oh well, maybe it'll all work out :wall:

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With this piece of news, I think this all but locks Woywitka on the roster as that emergency veteran defenceman. He can be the #7 to start the season (assuming one of Yemelin/Diaz make it) and then take the role of Picard if/when everyone's healthy at the same time.

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OK let's see a show of hands for the signing of Markov as a "failed gamble"

:angry2:

Too early for that I think. Having to have a knee drained isn't the end of the world, it just means he needs to slow down the rehab for a little bit. Heck, he's still skating apparently, just not quite as hard as before.

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My left knee has been drained quite a few times. IMO, it's way too early to say that it is a big thing. Chances are good that some rest and a slower pace in his training will put him back on the road to full recovery. Even if he is not ready for the first weeks of the season, I believe that the team has enough depth to win on a regular basis.

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Dudes...having "water on the knee" or a joint effusion is not a diagnosis. It is simply a sign of other pathology. Markov had an ACL repair and then subsequently tore his repaired ACL. It's really beyond my scope but the problem is quite complex as you might imagine.

Best thing is to just wait and see. IMO, missing a few games at the beginning of an 82 game season is a good thing for anyone who plans to play through the spring and early summer. He's no spring chicken anymore.

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Well, no matter what way you spin it, this isn't good news. But, I do think we need to fight the urge to catastrophize the situation; it's likely not as bad as we fear it may be. I'm just glad they're taking precautions, and I hope he doesn't rush back.

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I've been seeing a lot of "I told you so's..." and bla bla on other habs fourms, and it makes me laugh. A lot of the opinion was that the habs never took risks on players, and Markov was a risk and is a risk and I think that this little set back just has habs fans all in a tizzie, when all we know is he needs more time to recover haha.

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I fully believe he will be completely fine, plus if he isn't, me made it too the conference final without him once and we almost beat the cup champs without him again, we will be fine. It would suck too have him against the cap, but we as a team will function just fine.

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Hey, the season is back. Speculating and a sense of doom before any real information has actually been released.

ahh, thanks Wams.

Its great to be back for another season. I'll be getting a head start by seeing the Habs play the Bruins on Sept 25th in Halifax. Should be interesting. Watch for me on RDS. I will be holding a Habs World banner and wearing a #47 Lebeau jersey.

As far as Markov goes. When he got hurt again I said he would never play in a Habs uniform again. I haven't been wrong yet.

This guy is finished. Even if he does come back and play it will only be a matter of time before he's out again.

The problem you see, is his mental state, not so much the knee..

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ahh, thanks Wams.

Its great to be back for another season. I'll be getting a head start by seeing the Habs play the Bruins on Sept 25th in Halifax. Should be interesting. Watch for me on RDS. I will be holding a Habs World banner and wearing a #47 Lebeau jersey.

As far as Markov goes. When he got hurt again I said he would never play in a Habs uniform again. I haven't been wrong yet.

This guy is finished. Even if he does come back and play it will only be a matter of time before he's out again.

The problem you see, is his mental state, not so much the knee..

Well, when Markov skates out onto NHL ice for his first game back, will you be prepared to admit "you've been wrong?" Nah. I'll bet you're more likely to say, if and when he gets hurt again in some way, shape or form, that you were right all along.

You're overstating your case and therefore making it into mush. The question isn't whether he'll play again. All medical reports we've gotten say he can and will. He says he can and will. The Habs say he can and will. The question is, rather, whether he will be damaged goods when he does return: less than the horse he used to be, prone to endless injuries, etc..

You claim to base your apocalyptic prediction on some psychic knowledge of his inner state. I didn't know The Amazing Kreskin was registered on this board.

All this being said, my problem isn't that we resigned him, it's that we didn't retain enough proven veteran talent on D to protect ourselves should Markov's pattern of injury continue. But nobody except me seems to mind the prospect of endlessly pissing away 2nd-round picks in desperate midseason efforts to paper over holes on the blueline.

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I just wish we could have gotten rid of him. time will tell.

I really hope I am wrong on this. (Would be the first time since 1997)

We should probably call a couple different glue factories for quotes though just to be safe.. ;)

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Well, when Markov skates out onto NHL ice for his first game back, will you be prepared to admit "you've been wrong?" Nah. I'll bet you're more likely to say, if and when he gets hurt again in some way, shape or form, that you were right all along.

You're overstating your case and therefore making it into mush. The question isn't whether he'll play again. All medical reports we've gotten say he can and will. He says he can and will. The Habs say he can and will. The question is, rather, whether he will be damaged goods when he does return: less than the horse he used to be, prone to endless injuries, etc..

You claim to base your apocalyptic prediction on some psychic knowledge of his inner state. I didn't know The Amazing Kreskin was registered on this board.

All this being said, my problem isn't that we resigned him, it's that we didn't retain enough proven veteran talent on D to protect ourselves should Markov's pattern of injury continue. But nobody except me seems to mind the prospect of endlessly pissing away 2nd-round picks in desperate midseason efforts to paper over holes on the blueline.

Like I said before, you are making these proclamations without ever seeing Emelin or Diaz play. I am less than concerned with prospects right now because the Habs have solid depth to go with a strong young NHL core. Not only are Emelin, Weber and Diaz strong young D prospects, but the Habs have Beaulieu, Nygren and Mac Bennett in the system.

Diaz and Emelin are both 25, so their adjustment is going to be mental, not physical.

So if Gauthier's mild gamble on Markov being ready for the opener requires them spending a 2nd round pick, big deal. The way Timmins regularly plucks NHL talent after the 2nd round the Habs can survive without next years 2nd round pick if it bridges a gap to Markov.

Either way, I am more interested who is healthy in April than October. If the Habs enter the playoffs with Markov, Subban, Gorges, Gill, Spacek and a seasoned Emelin with guys like Weber and Diaz ready to play the Streit/Dandenault role I am more than happy.

I also don't understand the worry about him "never being the same", like the thing that made Markov different was physical. Markov's strength are positioning, passing and intelligence. He is not in the PK, Chelios mold where when you remove the knees their game is hampered significantly because one of his strengths is removed.

One thing that jumped out at me was that Markov was very vague and dodged plenty of questions today, that doesn't bode well for him starting the season.

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So, here we go - just about. I am very excited about the upcoming year. I'm a little sad about losing Tom Pyatt. He made the Gomez deal look better. Not that Pyatt was going to be the guy who made or broke us but against Boston in the 1st round along with Ryan White - that line drove them nuts!

As far as the rest of the core goes, I'm happy. Hopefully Kostitsyn stays with Eller this year (Jacques - read this!) and they rediscover the magic they had on the same line again. If that happens and it's consistent and assuming line 1 nor 2 have issues we will have 3 dangerous lines and a solid checking line to boot.

As far as Markov goes - here we go again. I'm going to reserve judgement on this and our defence until we find out how long he's out for and also wait to assess the Yemelin, Woywitka and Diaz additions. Does our D have enough depth to absorb the loss of Markov in the short term? I think so. That's why I'm not worried. The most important thing is that Markov comes back ONLY when the knee is 100%. I'd rather he wait instead of painfully watching a repeat of Eric Staal running him over last year. Not saying Staal was intending to injure, moreso Markov's too just gung ho sometimes.

On another note, I wonder if PK will be public enemy number 1 to our opponents. I wonder if Yemelin will be instead. Especially when he starts running over guys and boarding them on a regular basis.

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No question the Habs' D has sufficient depth to paper over the absence of Markov for a short span. But I begin from the proposition that raw rookies cannot be relied upon for anything more than temporary relief; and I'm surprised to read as wise an observer as Wamsley telling me to put my faith in guys like Emelin and Diaz who may not even last one season in the NHL.

What the team had with Hamrlik, and perhaps no longer has without him, is the accomplished, minutes-eating veteran defensive depth that would allow the team to succeed without Markov for a sustained period of time. I may be wrong about this, of course. But when you subtract a defencemen who played 20+ minutes per night for us over the past four seasons, and replace him with completely raw rookies while crossing your fingers on a guy who has been collossally injury-prone, that should be cause for concern. Even WITH Markov we are relying on a bottom-pairing of Spacek and Weber. Take him out of the picture and you're depending on guys who have only a vague idea what the NHL/North American game entails.

I also don't understand the breezy attitude to throwing away picks year after year to paper over holes that, year after year, go unaddressed. The same people shrugging off the Habs' bizarre annual procilivity for wasting 2nd-rounders would be the first to tell you that, in a cap world, you need to stockpile picks. Instead we bleed them, over and over, to 'quick fix' our blueline when this should be done off-season.

All this being said, I hope that I'm wrong. If Markov stays reasonably healthy then these anxieties may turn out to be moot. That's kinda my problem, though: if, if, if... Too many things go wrong every year for this fingers-crossing to be a reassuring team-building strategy.

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Back in October 2008, this was stated:: "Alexei Yemelin is the best defenseman not in the NHL" - Pierre McGuire.

I hope this is true and a reinforcement of his skill. Mind you, as The Chicoutimi Cucumber stated there still exists the concern about adapting to the North American game and rink size. And there will also exist opinions by people who can't stand McGuire and that any endorsement from him is bad news.

I hope he's right and I have to think there is potential for him to make the cut and be a deadlier force than that of a 2nd rate rook. Cross 'em fingers!

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On another note, I wonder if PK will be public enemy number 1 to our opponents. I wonder if Yemelin will be instead. Especially when he starts running over guys and boarding them on a regular basis.

Or maybe people will start too take out PK then Yemelin will return the favour... I hope it doesn't take too long for him too adjust I wasn't a fan of him originally because I do not want him too turn into a cooke-esque dirty hitter, but it would have been nice too have him too destroy a certain Slovak...

Something like this...

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Or maybe people will start too take out PK then Yemelin will return the favour... I hope it doesn't take too long for him too adjust I wasn't a fan of him originally because I do not want him too turn into a cooke-esque dirty hitter, but it would have been nice too have him too destroy a certain Czech...

Something like this...

Chara? He's a Slovak.

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