The St. Louis Blues did the Montreal Canadiens a favour

– The St. Louis Blues chose to extend Marco Scandella, signing him to a four-year deal, which helps the Montreal Canadiens by giving them another draft pick.

The ‘will they, won’t they’ seesaw for the Montreal Canadiens was an interesting – and at times frustrating – game to watch. The team was out of a playoff spot ahead of the Trade Deadline, but still close enough where Marc Bergevin could justify trying to go for a late push. The route the Habs chose to go down depended on what would happen with the likes of Ilya Kovalchuk and Marco Scandella as both were pending UFAs.

The Scandella trade tipped the Montreal on the seller’s side, and Bergevin got a decent haul for the defenceman. The veteran took his talents to the west coast joining the St. Louis Blues for what looked to be another run at the Stanley Cup.

The trade made sense considering the Blues had lost Jay Bouwmeester to medical problems, and they needed someone to fill in that role. St. Louis felt Scandella was up to the assignment and paid a 2020 second-round pick to secure the deal.

At first, one may think a second-round pick is just a second-round pick. However, the last few years have proved that a pick in the second round can be just as valuable as a first-round pick. And if that was ever going to come true, this year would definitely be the one as scouts can’t stop raving about the depth of the upcoming draft.

The Scandella trade saw the Montreal Canadiens add their third second-rounder after already acquiring one from the Chicago Blackhawks for Andrew Shaw last summer. There was another part of the deal that saw a possible fourth-round pick up for grabs if certain conditions were met.

The Habs would get another pick from the Blues in 2021 if St. Louis win two playoff series with Scandella playing in half of the games or if the team resigned him before October 7th. There was a decent chance of the first condition being met given how strong of a team St. Louis heading into the playoffs, but the organization did Montreal a favour and put the condition into effect by extending the defenceman.

The news came out Thursday of a new contract reached with Scandella. The 30-year-old signed a four-year extension that will see him make $3.275 million per up down from the $4 million AAV he had on his previous deal.

With the fourth in the bank, the Montreal Canadiens have 25 picks in the next two drafts. This would be great if they were a rebuilding team, but Bergevin has made it clear that he wants the team to be competitive.

This year’s event is a positive one with the amount of talent available past the first round, but hopefully, the Habs are in a position where they can use those picks in future years to add talent.