The biggest question that has been facing the Montreal Canadiens since the day they acquired Shea Weber has been: “who exactly is going to be his defensive partner?”
For a season there was a combination of Nathan Beaulieu and Alexei Emelin, both of whom fell flat more often than not, and prompted the Canadiens’ coaches to make a change. That change came in the form of Andrei Markov, whose deft playmaking was a great complement to Weber’s blistering shot at the blue line. Of course there was the messy breakup of the long-time Markov and Montreal relationship heading into last season, which prompted that old question to be asked once more.