Andrei Markov On Canadiens, Demidov, Hutson And Canada’s Cup Drought

Andrei Markov (Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images/NHLI)

Andrei Markov no longer lives in Montreal, but he has never really left it.

The defenceman spent 16 seasons with the Canadiens, from 2000-01 through 2016-17, and his 572 points remain tied with Guy Lapointe for the second-most by a blueliner in franchise history, behind only Larry Robinson. He returned to Russia to finish his playing career, won a Gagarin Cup with Ak Bars Kazan in 2018 and retired in 2020. These days, he flies in as a visitor and checks into a hotel. He still makes the trip at least once a year.

“The last time was in spring: my wife and I flew in for a Lady Gaga concert,” Markov told RG.org. “Before that, the club invited me to an evening in my honour. I was there with my wife and kids.”

That evening was Dec. 3, 2025, when the Canadiens celebrated Markov at the Bell Centre before a game against the Winnipeg Jets. The next invitation is already on the calendar. Markov is on the Canadiens alumni roster for the game that precedes the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic, which Winnipeg hosts against Montreal at Princess Auto Stadium on Oct. 25. The alumni game is scheduled for Oct. 24 at Canada Life Centre.

“It will take place before the Canadiens game, and many Montreal stars from past years will be there,” Markov said. “I haven’t looked yet at who’s on it. Patrice Brisebois will be there for sure.”

Brisebois is indeed on the list. So are Jaroslav Halak, Mike Cammalleri, Erik Cole, Brandon Prust and Stephane Quintal, according to the updated roster the club released in late August. The Jets side includes Dustin Byfuglien, Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd and Paul Stastny.

Why Markov Would Bet On Montreal

The Canadiens Markov left in 2017 were entering a rebuild. The team he watches now is one of the youngest in the league and reached the Eastern Conference Final last spring before losing in five games to the Carolina Hurricanes. Markov spoke with head coach Martin St. Louis during his Montreal visit and came away convinced the group is on the right track.

“He said he really likes that the players listen, hear him and want to get better,” Markov said. “So I think Montreal has a very promising team right now, and if nothing unexpected happens, they have good chances and a good future.”

That optimism extends to the question every Canadian hockey fan eventually asks. No club from north of the border has won the Stanley Cup since Montreal beat the Los Angeles Kings in 1993. Edmonton came closest in recent years, losing back-to-back finals to Florida in 2024 and 2025.

“I really hope it will be Montreal,” Markov said. “In recent years, Edmonton had a big chance, but they didn’t use it. Right now I would probably bet on Montreal.”

The betting market is not as convinced. Montreal opens the regular season Sept. 29 in Toronto priced as a mid-tier contender for the 2027 Stanley Cup. At 1xBet, the Canadiens are listed at 22.00, 10th on the board behind the Florida Panthers at 7.60, Carolina and Colorado at 8.10 and Edmonton at 10.20. Tonybet has Montreal at 24.09, with Florida the 7.53 favourite and the Oilers at 10.03.

Among Canadian clubs, only Edmonton is priced shorter than Montreal at either book. Toronto and Ottawa are 34.00 at 1xBet and 36.14 at Tonybet, while Tonybet lists Winnipeg at 121.00 and Vancouver and Calgary at 501.00. Those numbers put the Canadiens second among the seven Canadian teams and well ahead of the rest, in line with Markov’s read, and the full range of futures is compared across hockey betting sites that serve Canadian customers.

Demidov, Slafkovsky And The Hutson Contract

Ivan Demidov arrived in Montreal at the end of the 2024-25 season and became a fixture almost immediately. The 20-year-old led all NHL rookies with 62 points in 2025-26, finished as a Calder Trophy finalist behind Matthew Schaefer of the New York Islanders and on July 1 signed an eight-year, $73 million extension that begins in 2027-28.

Markov, a fellow Russian, has followed Demidov’s first year closely and pointed to what happens away from the rink as much as what happens on it.

“I’m truly happy for him,” Markov said. “He spends a lot of time with the team, he trains. Between seasons he stays in Montreal and talks with the young guys. They have such a young, close team, and I hope it will show even more.”

Asked whether Demidov’s hands and skating recall his former teammate Alex Kovalev, Markov declined to make the comparison.

“It’s hard to be like Kovalev. He had his own technique, his own hands,” Markov said. “I think he should just be himself and do what he does well.”

On Juraj Slafkovsky, the first overall pick in 2022 who took time to find his footing, Markov saw a player who has settled in. The Slovak winger posted career highs across the board in 2025-26 with 30 goals, 43 assists and 73 points in 82 games, a jump of 22 points on his previous best, and added 12 points in 19 playoff games.

“You can see that now he feels more confident and shows the hockey people expected from him,” he said. “After he settled in, everything got better.”

The contract that interested Markov most, though, belongs to Lane Hutson. The 2025 Calder Trophy winner signed an eight-year, $70.8 million deal last October, an average of $8.85 million per season. Markov measured that figure against the extension Cale Makar signed with Colorado last month, an eight-year, $163.2 million contract that made him the first NHL player to reach $20 million a year.

“We were just looking at Makar’s contract recently,” Markov said. “And the fact that Hutson signed for eight years for that money, compared to Makar’s contract — that’s modest. I think it’s a big plus for the team that they managed to keep him for such a long term.”

He was also clear about what he sees in the 5-foot-9 defenceman.

“A small guy, with an unusual skating style, but the way he moves the puck, the way he moves himself — that’s what I liked,” Markov said. “And you can see that not only him — many young players on the team enjoy what they do. That’s a very important factor.”

Markov did not claim to know why Montreal’s young core has signed for less than comparable players elsewhere, but he recognized the feeling from his own career.

As for Makar himself, Markov stopped short of calling him a once-in-a-century player, noting that hockey changes every year and the style with it. He grouped Makar with Quinn Hughes and Hutson as defencemen who produce a point a game, a category that has always been small.

“What he does is impressive,” Markov said. “And I think he earned that contract.”

An 84-Game Season, Expansion And Germany

The 2026-27 season is the first under the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement, which expands the regular season to 84 games and caps preseason schedules at four games per team. Markov, who played 82-game seasons for most of his career, sees the change from a player’s side and a business side at once.

“For the players, it’s probably good: playing is only a plus. And it’s a plus for business,” he said. “We all hear that in the next two or three years, one more team will appear in the NHL. That shows the league is making money. But 82 or 84 — it’s still a lot of games.”

He is similarly untroubled by expansion, even as travel across time zones grows. “You can see many new cities. For me — it’s good.”

The league’s international push drew a more personal response. The NHL announced a multiyear partnership with FC Bayern Munich on Aug. 20, with regular-season games in Dusseldorf this December and Munich and Cologne in 2027, where Leon Draisaitl’s Oilers are scheduled to play in his hometown.

“It would be even better if games were also held in Russia,” Markov said. “Imagine: right now Draisaitl is playing in Germany — he is from Germany himself, and coming home with the team, playing in front of your own people — that’s an experience for a lifetime. The same with the Czechs, Swedes, Finns: players from these countries probably enjoy it twice as much.”

The same theme surfaced when the conversation turned to the World Cup of Hockey, which returns in February 2028 with eight teams and games in Calgary, Edmonton and Prague. Markov played in the 2004 edition for Russia, and Russian teams have been barred from international competition since 2022.

“Probably everyone would like to see Russia at the World Cup,” Markov said. “It’s a cool format, and if you look at the last World Cup, you understand the level of this tournament. For the players, for the countries that play there, it’s a very meaningful format.”

Ovechkin, 1,000 Goals And One More Year

Markov also had a word for a former Russian national team teammate. Alex Ovechkin, who turns 41 on Sept. 17, signed a one-year contract with Washington on July 2 to play a 22nd NHL season, having led the Capitals with 32 goals in 2025-26 without missing a game. He enters the year with 929 regular-season goals, an NHL record, and 1,006 when playoffs are included.

“He’s a beauty. Good for him,” Markov said. “A hockey career is short. It doesn’t matter how long you played — five, 10, 25 years. At the end of your career you look back and think, ‘Damn, why did it go so fast?’ So I wish Ovechkin to enjoy the moment and break every record he can.”

Asked whether 1,000 regular-season goals is possible, Markov suggested the number is not what drives the Capitals captain.

“I don’t think he thinks in those categories,” Markov said. “I think if you asked him what he wants more — to win the Stanley Cup one more time or to score 1,000 goals — he would say the Stanley Cup. I’m sure of it. Let him do what he knows how to do and enjoy it. And we will enjoy it too.”

There was one last question, about whether the Montreal-Boston rivalry still carries the edge it did when Markov played in it. He did not hesitate.

“I think yes, it’s still there, because journalists and fans won’t let it die,” he said. “I’m sure that before a game with Boston, passions run high. I don’t know how much it fuels the players themselves, but they surely remember the stories from past years.”

When the Canadiens and Bruins meet this season, the lines for those games and the rest of the Montreal schedule will be listed among RG.org’s sports betting odds, alongside comparisons of online sportsbooks in Canada for readers weighing where to place a wager on the season.