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Markov, Habs officially part ways

Vancouver Canucks v Montreal Canadiens

MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 16: Andrei Markov #79 of the Montreal Canadiens looks on during the NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at the Bell Centre on November 16, 2015 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

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Andrei Markov’s run of 17 consecutive seasons in Montreal is over.

On Thursday, the Habs announced that Markov -- who’s played all 990 of his career NHL contests with the Canadiens -- wouldn’t be brought back for the 2017-18 campaign.

The news comes after months of rumblings about Markov’s contractual status. It was initially believed the 38-year-old UFA was looking for $12 million over two years, and there was a brief flirtation with the Flyers (which, it later turned out, was simply Markov’s interest in going to Philly, not the Flyers actively pursuing him).

Montreal GM Marc Bergevin stated on several occasions he wanted to bring Markov back, but only at the right price and term. That’s because Bergevin knew Markov still played an important role -- despite appearing in just 62 games last year, the Russian rearguard was offensively productive, with six goals and 36 points, and averaged nearly 22 minutes per night.

That said, Bergevin also knew the financial realities. He dished out big bucks this offseason -- a combined $154.8 million for Carey Price, Jonathan Drouin, Alex Galchenyuk and Karl Alzner -- and just didn’t have the money left to give Markov a big ticket.

Instead, Bergevin played it conservative in rounding out his defense, which included Tuesday’s one-year, $700,000 deal for Mark Streit. Some saw that deal as the writing on the wall for Markov in Montreal.

Looking ahead, it’ll be interesting to see where Markov ends up. If he lowers his asking price, there’s no doubt an NHL team would be interested. If he doesn’t, he could angle for a KHL deal and the opportunity to represent Russia in the upcoming Winter Olympics.