Marco Scandella was traded to the St. Louis Blues by the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday for a second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.
"I'm excited for the opportunity to play in the playoffs, to play with this team, a great franchise," Scandella said after practicing with the Blues on Wednesday. "Like I said, the defending Stanley Cup champs. I just want to play my role and try to help the team win."
Coach Craig Berube said Scandella would likely make his Blues debut when they play the Arizona Coyotes at Enterprise Center on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV).
"He's ready to go," Berube said. "We got him for a reason, so we'll get him right in there and play."
St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong said the trade for the defenseman was in response to losing Jay Bouwmeester, who had a cardiac episode during their game at the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 11 and was placed on long-term injured reserve Tuesday.
"We view him to be the type of player we lost," Armstrong said of Scandella. "[Bouwmeester] was a rangy player, had a great stick, killed plays down low, simple first-pass player. Marco's a good skater. I don't think he's an elite skater like [Bouwmeester] was in his prime or still was effective, but he has a powerful shot.
"We think that right now with our players on the right side, whether he plays with Alex [Pietrangelo] or [Justin] Faulk or [Colton] Parayko, I told him, 'You're drawing a good cart regardless of who you get to play with there,' and he was excited about that. I just think that the way (coach) Craig [Berube] and (assistant) Mike [Van Ryn] have our team playing, having those big, rangy, difficult players to play against fits into what we're doing."
