Observations:

January 2014 – Scandella has now entrenched himself as a top three rearguard with the Wild. His production is still rather moderate and should grow in upcoming seasons. As a prospect, if you don’t own him, you missed the boat, but as a team looking to grow, he would be a decent guy to take a chance on if his owner is looking to part with him. Jason Banks

June 2013 – The Minnesota Wild announced they have locked up 23-year old D Marco Scandella with a contract worth $2.05M over the next two seasons. Scandella appeared in all five postseason games for the Wild, while recording his first NHL postseason goal in Game two of the Western Quarterfinals. He led Minnesota defensemen in playoff scoring and ranked fourth in time on ice at 18:01 minutes per game. Clayton Bailey

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May 2013 – Scandella was handed his first taste of NHL playoff hockey in April of 2013. After appearing in just six regular season games, he entered the postseason as apart of Minnesota’s top-six defensive unit. In the Wild’s brief playoff stint against the top-seeded Chicago Blackhawks, Scandella appeared in all five games, recording his first NHL postseason goal in Game 2 of the Western Quarterfinals. Despite a short and disappointing ending to the Wild’s 2013 season, Scandella’s just the type of player Minnesota should be very excited about moving forward. Though he may not light up the score board night in and night out, his puck moving ability, and upside on the defensive end of the ice have tremendous potential. Scandella enters the offseason as a restricted free agent. While it’s very likely he’ll be signed long-term in Minnesota in the near future, the emergence of prospect defensemen Jonas Brodin and Justin Falk appear to have the Wild in position for superior defensive depth moving forward. Assuming they don’t splurge on more defensive assets come July 3rd, Scandella should see plenty of top-six playing time in 2014. Clayton Bailey

March 2013 – Since returning from injury, Scandella has bounced up and down between the NHL and AHL. His offensive game is still sputtering (Houston Areos are not exactly an offensive team), but is playing responsible minutes. He has regressed this year and others like Jonas Brodin and Justin Faulk have currently jumped him, but the potential and upside remains very strong with Marco. Jason Banks

January 2013 – Scandella has recently returned from a groin injury. He had 11 points in 24 games during the lockout in the AHL. In his first NHL game back he was paired with Justin Falk as one of the ‘Non-Suter’ pairing options. His minutes should rise again as he gets back into form following the month off and moderate production will follow. Jason Banks

April 2012 – Marco is a big, mobile, minute eating, puck moving, responsible, ‘blue chip’ defenseman. Despite only playing 83 NHL games by the age of 22, Wild management already considers him the organization’s Top d-man, and project him to be ‘The Guy’ for a long time. Scandella just recently logged 35:43 in a 60 min game, which is a Wild Record, the most in the NHL since Chris Pronger in 2009 and most for a rookie since Andrej Meszaros logged 37:47 in ’06. Mike Yeo on that game “It’s always nice when you have defensemen that can play big minutes like that and their game doesn’t drop…”. He also had six blocked shots in that game. Marco has shown flashes of the expected offensive production, but he is yet to become consistent with it at the NHL level. Wild have recently demoted Marco to Houston to play a major part in his second playoff run in two years in the AHL. Jason Banks

Fantasy Outlook:  B+

Has become a reliable defender for the Wild, still has some offensive upside to him.

Footage:

Marco Scandella scores a beauty of a first NHL Goal vs. Columbus

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