Report: Bad fallout between Markov and Bergevin?

Former long-time Montreal Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov has been all smiles in Russia - well, he's probably still sporting his famous grimace, but his team is leading the Eastern Conference of the KHL. The same can't be said of his former team.

In an interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Markov opened up about how things are currently going in his home land.

“It’s not bad, we have a pretty good team,’’ Markov told LeBrun. “Of course there’s a big difference between the KHL and the NHL, with the system, the pace of the game, the rink, there are differences. But I’m familiar with that, I grew up here. No complaints, everything is going well.’’

A further comment on the interview raised some alarms. The questioning was heading in the direction of the signing-that-never-was, and the veteran rearguard shut that conversation down immediately.

“Actually, I don’t want to talk about that, especially in this situation right now. If we open everything (up), it’s going to be even harder for them, so I don’t want to explain right now,’’ Markov said.

It sure sounds like something happened here beyond Marc Bergevin and Markov not being able to agree on numbers. He makes it sound like there's a bigger story here that would only stir another media frenzy in Montreal. He rightfully declined to comment as the team definitely doesn't need this distraction, but it's definitely something we hope comes out sooner or later.