{"id":65141,"date":"2020-01-02T18:59:29","date_gmt":"2020-01-02T23:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=65141"},"modified":"2020-01-02T19:01:05","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T00:01:05","slug":"buffalo-sabres-marco-scandella-traded-to-montreal-canadiens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/01\/02\/buffalo-sabres-marco-scandella-traded-to-montreal-canadiens\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Sabres Marco Scandella Traded to Montreal Canadiens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/sabres\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buffalo Sabres<\/a> have traded defenseman <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/scandma01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Marco Scandella<\/strong><\/a> to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/canadiens\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Montreal Canadiens<\/a>. The 29-year-old defender has been acquired in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft. The Canadiens announced the move early Thursday evening.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Canadiens have acquired defenseman Marco Scandella from the Buffalo Sabres, in return for a fourth-round pick in 2020 (acquired from the San Jose Sharks on June 22, 2019).<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GoHabsGo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#GoHabsGo<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uJEKDoyayl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/uJEKDoyayl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Canadiens Montr\u00e9al (@CanadiensMTL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CanadiensMTL\/status\/1212877981473026049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Marco Scandella Traded to Montreal<\/h2>\n<p>Scandella has scored three goals and nine points in 31 games in 2019-20. He also has 38 hits and 34 blocks. His numbers do not leap off the page but he has excellent possession numbers and is a strong puck-mover. His 52.8 Corsi For was best among all Buffalo defenders and second only to <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/o\/okposky01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Okposo<\/a><\/strong>. Scandella was a solid member of a Sabres defence core that is much-improved compared to 2018-19.<\/p>\n<p>The former Sabre and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/wild\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Minnesota Wild<\/a> defender joins a Montreal squad looking for its own defensive resurgence. The Canadiens have several solid players on their blue line already but are clearly looking for a veteran upgrade to one of the current pairings. He could slide next to either <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/petryje01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Petry<\/a><\/strong> or <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/f\/fleurca01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cale Fleury<\/a> <\/strong>as a left-handed shot to their right-handedness. The Canadiens would then just need to move one of the less experienced defenders around to clear the spot. Scandella&#8217;s most likely replacement in Buffalo will either be <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/milleco02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colin Miller<\/a><\/strong> or <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gilmojo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Gilmour<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means for the Future<\/h3>\n<p>Montreal is clearly trying to make a move in a crowded Atlantic Division playoff race. They are three points behind the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/panthers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Florida Panthers<\/a> going into Thursday&#8217;s games. Scandella will help take some of the defensive pressure off other players and let them focus on scoring. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/priceca01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carey Price<\/a><\/strong> will surely appreciate Scandella&#8217;s defensive skills.<\/p>\n<p>However, this trade could signal Buffalo turning into a selling team. They have already fallen behind Montreal into sixth in the Atlantic. Several of their other players could also be on the move soon. Both <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogosza01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Bogosian<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/rodriev01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Evan Rodrigues<\/a><\/strong> have requested trades in recent weeks. Do not be surprised if Scandella is just the first part of a busy winter for the Sabres front office.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"v-vcF5eSThNLpNEilbh5yg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1190308861\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'v-vcF5eSThNLpNEilbh5yg',sig:'Nw5IaEN_LW1jTFd4tii2CMtTzO_8d1SvwEjr2UG09bk=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1190308861',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Buffalo Sabres have traded defenseman Marco Scandella to the Montreal Canadiens. The 29-year-old defender has been acquired in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft. The Canadiens announced the move early Thursday evening. The Canadiens have acquired defenseman Marco Scandella from the Buffalo Sabres, in return for a fourth-round pick in 2020 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3127,"featured_media":65149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,34],"tags":[182,1112,152],"class_list":["post-65141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sabres","category-news","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-marco-scandella","tag-montreal-canadiens"],"modified_by":"Gabriel Foley","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}