Montreal Canadiens: Checking in on Former Habs Defenceman Marco Scandella

The Montreal Canadiens added defenceman Marco Scandella for a short stint this season. How has he fit in with the St. Louis Blues after being traded by the Habs?

The Montreal Canadiens season was falling off the rails around the new year. They had some decent stretches in the first half of the season but also had some long losing streaks. They were in the middle of what would become their second eight game losing streak of the year when the calendar flipped to 2020.

With their playoff hopes circling around the drain, the Habs made a couple of minor moves to add some depth to their team. They signed Ilya Kovalchuk to a contract and they also dealt a fourth round pick to the Buffalo Sabres for defenceman Marco Scandella.

Scandella had played 31 games for the Sabres and was providing solid defensive minutes for another team that had faint playoff hopes. The Sabres oddly built their team by adding as many NHL caliber defenceman as they could get their hands on, but forgot to find a second NHL caliber centre to play behind Jack Eichel.

With Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Ristolainen, Brandon Montour, Colin Miller, Jake McCabe, Henri Jokiharju and Zach Bogosian on the roster, as well as Scandella, the Sabres were looking to deal a defender.

They eventually decided to trade Scandella to a division rival in Montreal and only received a fourth round pick in return.

Scandella is a Montreal native and was ecstatic to get a chance to play in Montreal. He moved around the pairing on the left side, battling Victor Mete, Brett Kulak and Ben Chiarot for ice time. He mostly settled into a third pairing role on the left side and provided solid defensive, responsible minutes.

Scandella played 20 games with the Canadiens, scoring three points including one big goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 2-1 overtime victory. As the trade deadline approached, it became obvious the Habs were not going to make the postseason, so Scandella was on the move again. Though the Canadiens only gave up a fourth round pick for him, they dealt him to the St. Louis Blues for a second round pick and a conditional fourth.

Since arriving in St. Louis, the Blues have caught fire. They are battling the Colorado Avalanche for first in the Central Division. When Jay Bouwmeester was ruled out for the rest of the season after a scary incident where he collapsed on the Blues bench, they were in the market for a left defenceman.

Scandella stepped into the Blues lineup and has been great. He has played 11 games with his third team this season and won nine of them. The Blues only two losses since Scandella arrived in town were to Eastern Conference opponents, so they haven’t lost ground in the Western Conference race.

Scandella has averaged just over 20 minutes per game in St. Louis. He plays a regular role at even strength but has taken over Bouwmeester’s important role on the top penalty killing unit. Scandella has averaged 2:22 per game on the penalty kill in those 11 games with the Blues, which is third highest on their team this season, just behind Bouwmeester and Robert Bortuzzo.

The Blues have been staying just ahead of the Avalanche for first place in the Western Conference standings. They have 94 points and the Avalanche have 92. There is very little margin for error atop the Central Division and thanks to Scandella stepping in and playing a crucial role, the Blues have maintained their perch atop the conference standings.

There is no way to know when the NHL will pick back up again or what the rest of the regular season or playoff schedule will look like when the NHL does eventually return to action.

We do know that the Blues will be in contention to repeat as champions whenever we see NHL games again. They will have one new key player in the lineup compared to last year’s Stanley Cup run and that will be Marco Scandella who has fit in extremely well after being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens.