Three years ago, the Montreal Canadiens took an enormous leap of faith on an aging defenseman with a very bad knee when they gave Andrei Markov a three-year deal worth $17.25 million.

In 2006, Andrei Markov joined a stacked Russian roster only to fall short in the bronze medal game. When Andrei Markov was 27 years old, he was amid the best NHL season in his nascent career.

For the first time since leaving the Montreal Canadiens in 2017, long-time defenseman Andrei Markov was back at the Bell Centre. Markov was a key to the Canadiens’ blue line between 2000 and 201 ...