Bergevin: Canadiens not interested in bringing back Markov

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin says he's not interested in signing veteran defenseman Andrei Markov, as the club is looking to get younger.

“Two years ago, his contract was due, we made an offer,” Bergevin told Marc Denis of RDS on a special edition of “Table d’hote” that aired on Saturday night. “Efforts were made to sign it and he chose another direction that was the KHL. It was two years ago.

“Since that time, things have changed,” Bergevin added. “The player has aged. The organization has changed direction. We have a lot of young people growing up... We really want to give our young people a chance.”

Markov spent 16 years with the Canadiens before inking a deal with Kazan Ak-Bars of the KHL prior to the 2017-18 season. Last month, the 40-year-old who's pursuing an NHL return expressed his desire to play in Montreal again.

Bergevin regards defensemen Noah Juulsen, Victor Mete, Josh Brook, and Alexander Romanov as examples of young, promising prospects he's looking to develop.

Markov is just 10 games shy of becoming the sixth Canadiens player to play 1,000 contests for the team. The Russian rearguard ranks sixth in both games played (990) and assists (453) in franchise history.