from Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette,

Andrei Markov got married last week in Russia, but the honeymoon will have to wait.

“There was no honeymoon. There’s no time for that … once he’s done playing,” said Sergei Berezin, the former NHLer who is one of Markov’s closest friends, an adviser and his off-season trainer. “He took three or four days off to get married, came back and boom! Back to work. That’s the kind of person he is.”...

The Canadiens sure look like they could use Markov back on the blue line after losing Nathan Beaulieu, Alexei Emelin and top prospect Mikhail Sergachev during the off-season, while adding defensive defenceman Karl Alzner. But as time goes by, it seems less likely Markov will be back in Montreal.

Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin — who has said “expect the unexpected” more than once since the end of last season — has 22 players signed to his 23-man roster and still has just over $9 million left in salary-cap space. Bergevin can afford Markov, but appears reluctant to give him a two-year deal with the GM saying he had given the defenceman a take-it-or-leave-it offer. Bergevin said the same thing about free-agent forward Alexander Radulov, who ended up signing with the Dallas Stars.

Berezin said he believes Markov wants to play longer than just two more years.

“It all depends on how he feels inside,” Berezin said. “You can see his eyes are still burning and he has the fire. I would imagine another, I don’t know, five, six years, easy. The way he works, the way he wants to work is just unbelievable … it’s amazing. I’ve never seen anybody like it. Nobody I played with, nobody I work with …. nobody I know.”

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