Andrei Markov returned to the Montreal Canadiens lineup on March 10th, 2012. The game against the Vancouver Canucks was Markov's first game since November 13th, 2010. Although Markov would never admit it, he was understandably hesitant during his first game back. His hesitancy can be quantified by his low even-strength event total during the game. He was involved in only 3.43 even-strength events against Vancouver, compared to a team-high 4.51 events per-minute played the following game against Buffalo.
In the 3 games Markov played prior to his most-recent injury, he has shown steady improvement in all aspects of play. His most consistent and steady improvement has come in the defensive-zone, while his work on the powerplay has already given him the top powerplay risk/reward rating on the team.
Keep in mind that these returns are early, and should be taken with a grain of salt. That said, the understandable consensus is that Markov will improve on these results, as his game is not where it once was following such a long-term absence from NHL play.
Markov produced above average overall risk/reward ratings in 2 of his 3 games. Overall, his rating is trending upward significantly, which bodes well for the both the team and Markov, himself.
OFFENSIVE-ZONE
Markov's offensive-zone risk/reward rating has shown a steady improvement through his first 3 games. Only 15% of his total events occur in the offensive-zone. He has a team-best offensive-zone ratio of 3.50 successful plays for every 1 unsuccessful play, and is tied with Tomas Kaberle for the best offensive-zone risk/reward rating (0.27) among defensemen.
Markov recovers 0.15 loose-pucks in the offensive-zone per minute-played; tops among Montreal defensemen. This translates to approximately 3 per-game. His offensive-zone puck-battle winning percentage still stands at 100%, but Markov has only been involved in 2 o-zone puck-battles to-date. He also has a team-high 86% success-rate when attempting offensive-zone passes; but again, the results are early.
Markov has increased his offensive-zone events per-minute played during each of his first 3 games back. He engaged in 0.27 o-zone events per-minute played against Vancouver, but increased that to 0.44 against Buffalo, and 0.48 against Ottawa.
DEFENSIVE-ZONEMarkov's defensive-zone risk/reward rating has shown a marked improvement in each of his first 3 games. Sixty-eight percent of Markov's total events occured in the defensive-zone. He has a solid defensive-zone ratio of 2.11 successful plays for every 1 unsuccessful play, and has engaged in 2.42 d-zone events per-minute played. Markov's defensive-zone event totals per-minute played have actually decreased through each of his 3 games. This decrease is a direct result of Markov's defensive-zone passing success-rate, as it has increased substantially through each of these games; improving from 55% against Vancouver to 87% against Buffalo, and an incredible 94% against Ottawa. Expressed differently, the more successful Markov is at getting the puck cleanly out of the d-zone, the less time the team spends in the defensive-zone.
Only PK Subban has recovered more defensive-zone loose-pucks per-minute played than Markov. That said, Markov still hasn't been able to demonstrate his strong stick during puck-battles, as he has only won a team-low 36% of his defensive-zone puck-battles. Only Kaberle has a slightly better defensive-zone passing success-rate than Markov's 77%. That said, as mentioned earlier, Markov's success-rate has been trending up substantially and should overtake Kaberle's percentage shortly.
It has taken only 3 games for Markov to improve his game substantially. This most recent injury may slow down his improvement, but a healthy Markov playing near the top of his game will indubitably have a noticeable, and incredibly positive result on the Montreal Canadiens; both this season, and beyond.
