Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said Monday that defenseman Andrei Markov will not return to the Montreal this season after a two-season sojourn in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Markov, 40, left the Canadiens after the 2016-17 campaign and signed with Ak Bars Kazan. He had spent his previous 16 NHL seasons with Montreal (he spent the 2004-05 lockout playing in Russia with Dynamo Moscow of the Russian Superleague), and the Canadiens are the only NHL team with which he has ever played.
“We have some young kids pushing and as far as where Andrei was two years ago, where our team was two years ago, things have changed,” Bergevin said at the Canadiens annual golf tournament. “And now we’re going, you know I call it a reset, refresh, and we did that, and now we’re going to keep in that direction.”
In August, Markov said he wanted to return to the franchise for what would likely be his final professional season. He has been practising in Florida.

Ovechkin returns to ice after injury scare
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was able to laugh off what initially appeared to be a serious injury during a scrimmage on Monday. Ovechkin went down awkwardly and reportedly screamed in pain before leaving the ice without putting any weight on his left leg. 
The three-time Hart Trophy recipient was helped off the ice by teammates John Carlson, Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom. Ovechkin, however, returned to the ice approximately 20 minutes later to resume skating.
Ovechkin, who turns 34 on Sept. 17, dismissed Monday’s events as a continuation of a bad start to his week. “It’s OK,” he said, per NHL.com. “Last night I fell off my bike.”