On Wednesday night, the Montreal Canadiens held a pre-game ceremony to honour the career of arguably the most consistent defenseman in the Habs organization during the 21st century, Andrei Markov. Throughout his 990 games with the Canadiens, Markov was never the most expressive player with the media, but on Wednesday he gave a great speech that showed just how much he loved Montreal.
An incredible ovation for Andrei Markov from the @CanadiensMTL faithful 👏
📺: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/UnlwQW5lNg
— NHL (@NHL) December 4, 2025
Overall, Markov’s ceremony wasn’t anything overly extravagant, but it was perfect to represent the man who went about doing his job so amazingly without making many waves outside the rink. The reality is Markov always let his play on the ice do the talking, which is why he was able to be so effective for such a long period of time.
The tribute truly seemed like it gave Markov the proper closure that he deserved after he had been snuck by Marc Bergevin during the summer of 2017. In a nutshell, he should have been brought back even at age 38 for another year or two, but because he wanted two seasons, Bergevin looked elsewhere and brought Karl Alzner for 5 years at $27.5 million, which turned out to be the worst contract the Habs had signed in the last decade.
“It stayed in my mind, and now its over. I’m lucky to have played my whole career with a team like Montreal.”
Andrei Markov on his return to Montreal, and not having gotten to 1000 games. pic.twitter.com/atm0gW22zu
— Marco D’Amico (@mndamico) December 3, 2025
At the end of the day, they likely could have gotten a deal done for 1 year, but the Habs’ former GM decided not to even try any further in negotiations, according to reports. The craziest part of all this was that Markov was as loyal as they come and wouldn’t even seek an NHL contract elsewhere. Sadly, his career ended just 10 games short of the amazing 1000-game milestone. Markov meant a lot to this city during the early 2000s, and it was just great to see him back at the Bell Centre getting honoured for what he accomplished during his time with the Habs.
Andrei Markov as a Canadien:
990 games played
119 goals
453 assists
572 points
+64 plus/minus
The General. pic.twitter.com/e8u9vR5nBv
— Canadiens Muse (@Canadiens_Muse) December 4, 2025
For me, Markov was one of the few players who truly shaped my childhood as a Habs fan, and seeing him express his gratitude to us all for supporting him during his long tenure with the Canadiens. It was amazing to see all the love he got from the crowd as well as some of his former Habs teammates and good friend Alex Ovechkin during his video tribute that ran for a good 10 minutes at the Bell Centre before his speech.
For those who missed it last night:
Here’s Andrei Markov’s speech in front Habs fans at the Bell Centre.
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) December 4, 2025
The real highlight of the ceremony was obviously when he spoke about how Montreal is the best city in the world to play hockey and mentioned just how grateful he was to spend 17 years here. It was really a special moment that also got the Canadiens players going heading to their game against the Winnipeg Jets, especially Ivan Demidov.
Andrei Markov watching the standing ovation from Habs fans at the Bell Centre pic.twitter.com/UH9PJLTNNA
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) December 4, 2025
During the ceremony, RDS panned in on Demidov’s face as he listened to Markov speak, and you could see the amazement on the 19-year-old’s face while listening to his fellow Russian as the crowd chanted Markov’s name. It really seemed like Demidov took the pre-game ceremony to heart, as he had one of his best games in a Habs jersey. Demidov finished the game with just one assist, but he created a ton of chances throughout the game and overtime. He also played a career-high 19:29 on the night, which was well deserved.
The only issue that came from Markov’s pre-game tribute is that Sportsnet decided to continue to chat on their panel rather than show the ceremony. This showed great disrespect towards a great Montreal Canadiens player, as well as fans who tuned in on Sportsnet expecting to see the ceremony but instead got a hockey panel that completely ignored it. There were many angry fans as a result, and it’s just one of many reasons that people prefer the TSN/RDS broadcasts over Sportsnet.
Hearing from quite a few #Habs fans upset that Sportsnet didn’t show the Andrei Markov Homecoming Night pre-game ceremony last night at Bell Centre. Hard to understand why they wouldn’t. Might have been different if it was a Maple Leafs player in Toronto.
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) December 4, 2025
Aside from the bad decision by Sportsnet to not show the ceremony, it was a great pre-game tribute for a player who deserved so much love for what he did with the Habs.