"Once more, over lightly, now that the Canadiens have said adieu for the summer following their elimination by a better Boston Bruins team. Thursday's parting was a sombre affair, and if you happened to see the striking photo on Page 1 of this newspaper on Friday, most of the sadness was etched on the faces of the standing-room horde of media people. As you'd expect, most of the Canadiens players suggested the future is bright in view of the growing maturity of the team's young players. No surprise there. What else would you expect them to say? All of them promised to work hard during the off-season. Sounds good. No point looking back on what could have been. Uh-huh. However, the reality is that major decisions will have to be made. Who among the unrestricted free agents stay? Who goes? Clearly, the biggest decision involves the status of Andrei Markov, who played in only 45 games during the 2009-10 regular season and only eight of the 19 playoff games. This season: only seven games. Here you have a player whose fouryear deal at $5.75 million per is over. If you're GM Pierre Gauthier, that kind of money now is out of the question. If you're interested in keeping Markov, it would be at a greatly reduced salary - which surely would not sit well with Markov." Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/spor...Canadiens head into summer/4701609/story.html
