Montreal Canadiens veteran defenseman Andrei Markov has signed a lockout contract with Vityaz Chekhov, a source in the KHL team told R-Sport on Wednesday.

Markov moved to North America after winning the Russian league with Dynamo Moscow in 2000.

“Vityaz has signed Andrei Markov. Everybody’s sure that he will help us a lot,” the source said. “Markov is a good defenseman and we need defensive players of such a level.”

Vityaz president Mikhail Golovkov declared that Markov will be officially presented on Wednesday evening.

The 33 year old spent all 11 NHL seasons in Montreal, with a short return trip to Dynamo during the lockout in 2004-05.

The best defenseman of the 2007 world championships made only 20 appearances over the last two seasons, suffering from knee injuries.

His overall NHL record comprises 685 games and 387 points.

Vityaz stands at the 12th place in the Western Conference and suffers from the league's second-weakest defense.