I have to say I don't entirely disagree with you. You do bring some valid points. Yes, it's a 2-way thing. Thing is....seeing and hearing Bergevin talk...it's not that hard to see how condescendant the guy can be and while we were not in the negotiations, clearly this is something Markov felt. I don't really care about the agent though. This is and was probably Markov last contract. He wanted 2 years. Yep...it's possible that it could have been 1 year too many. But geez....giving all those contrats and money to Price, Shaw, Alzner, Petry and Co....and SUDDENLY freaking out because you might be giving 1 small year too much to Markov becomes a problem? Especially after you just traded his replacement for a forward that maybe keeping Markov would give you 2 additional years through the draft or another trade to find another one? Insane how it's not a problem to give huge contracts to Shaw and Alzner, that are in the end not what talent is all about, and can't give it to Radulov and Markov.
Incredibly enough, it's Bergevin who, frustrated by Radulov not signing, said that if you want loyalty you need a dog....where was his loyalty to a guy who was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens 19 years ago? So Bergevin thinks it was more obvious for Radulov to sign here then for him to accept Markov last wishes? For 1 freakin year? It was too much to ask to meet Markov and talk to him? As I said before....Bergevin has already the persona to be so full of himself, the only thing it took to make sure he'd stay that way was to hand him a 5-year contract. Molson took a condescending man and transformed him into a worst one. And that's what Markov had trouble with. And in the end, we have 10M$ sleeping in the vault. And a bad defensive corps on top of it. All this in a year were aside from TBay, this is probably the worst era that the Eastern Conference has seen as bad as it was before. With some kind of wisdom, you can totally go to the Eastern Finals this year and then who knows. Yet, Bergevin plan is not about that. It's about making the playoffs and then who knows.....a recipe that brought this team nothing so far.