Markov Salary Details

With his new 23 million dollar contract tucked firmly into his pocket, Andrei Markov will now be earning an average of 5.75 million dollars per season for the next four years. Such a large contract has many Habs fans doubting the signing of unrestricted free agent Sheldon Souray. GM Bob Gainey has said, however that his “priority will be Sheldon Souray,” adding “I expect to have talks with Sheldon’s agent in the coming days.”

With the likely departure of Aebischer, Samsonov, Niinimaa, Johnson and possibly Kovalev (That would free up roughly 13.5 million in total), the chance of locking up Souray is not as farfetched as some make it out to be. Even if Gainey matches Markov’s contract in an attempt to hold on to Souray, the Canadiens will still have about 7-7.5 million dollars left in cap space, leaving room to sign a high profile forward like Chris Drury or Daniel Briere.