St. Louis Blues Make Smart Move Adding Marco Scandella
By Todd Panula
The St. Louis Blues made a deal just under a week before the trade deadline. It won’t make some happy, but they looked to the blue line instead of up front.
It was not quite 24 hours ago when the discussion began about the St. Louis Blues looking for a defenseman instead of a forward. At the time, I said it would not be a sexy move but it would be the correct one. That assertion stands firm.
Today, the Blues acquired Marco Scandella from the Montreal Canadiens for a second-round draft pick in 2020 and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2021. The nice thing about this trade is both sides can feel like they won.
The Blues feel like they won because they did not have to part with any prospects or current NHL players. While Scandella has not been with this team and is not quite the caliber of Jay Bouwmeester, he is in the same mold and can, at the very least, fill some of the void left by JayBo on specials teams.
The Blues also got Montreal to retain half of Scandella’s contract. That means they pay a cap hit of only $2 million and that might keep them in the running for another trade, if they choose to use up all their Long Term Injury Relief.
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The Canadiens can feel like they won because they picked up more than they gave up. Scandella has already been traded this season, going from the Buffalo Sabres to the Canadiens on January 2.
The Canadiens only gave up a 2020 fourth-round pick. Now, they transformed that fourth rounder into a second round pick and added a draft pick in 2021. Not a bad swap for them.
From a personal standpoint, you have to hope Scandella is not affected by being dealt twice in such a short time span. On one hand, he should be excited to play for a Stanley Cup contender, after being on two teams either set to miss the playoffs or in a dogfight just to make it. On the other hand, it is only human to ponder whether teams actually value you since you’ve moved so much recently and never got your former team a live player in any of the deals.
Nevertheless, this is a good move for the Blues. Scandella has playoff experience, logging a lot of minutes with the Minnesota Wild during their playoff runs.
He keeps his turnover numbers low, which is important given the Blues sudden habit of handing the puck over. He also logs a good amount of penalty kill minutes, which will really help the team since their PK has gone to hell since Bouwmeester got hurt.
Another bonus is his defensive point shares have been relatively good over his career, which is good since defense is the main reason he is being brought in. It certainly is not for his offense as he’s averaged five goals per season over the last three years.
As suggested, this is not the sexy pick that will get fans to rally behind the team and really say they’re a lock to win another Cup. However, it is what this team needed right now.
They don’t even necessarily need someone to log Bouwmeester’s minutes. They do need situational help, because Robert Bortuzzo was not cutting it on the penalty kill and it would take pressure off a lot of guys if he did well.
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Now, the only thing that remains to be seen is if Scandella would slot in with Colton Parayko to keep the right/left defense going or whether the Blues would risk two righties with Parayko and Justin Faulk and two lefties with Vince Dunn and Scandella or Carl Gunnarsson and Dunn.
Regardless, this was a smart move and it gives the Blues a little freedom to make another if they still want to, even if it would take some financial maneuvering.