Marco Scandella Signs 5 Year Extension

The Wild are nearly done with their off-season to do list and it’s not quite December. Today, we found out that Marco Scandella has signed a 5 year, $20 million contact extension with the Minnesota Wild. This contract not only locks Scandella down for the foreseeable future, it also covers his first few years of unrestricted free agency, which is even better.

According to the press release on the Wild website, here’s what GM Chuck Fletcher had to say about the extension:

"“Marco has shown tremendous improvement in his career and is one of the best young, two-way defensemen in the NHL”"

Marco Scandella is having a career year thus far, growing in to a two-way defenseman role. Posting 5 goals and 3 assists for 8 points to go along with a respectable +7, Scandella has already set a career high for goals and is on pace to break his career best in points (17.) Scandella’s +7 is good for 4th on the team and second among all Wild defensemen. He’s also tallied  45 shots, good for 3rd among all Wild blueliners.

Originally drafted by the Minnesota Wild 55th overall in the 2008 NHL entry draft, Scandella hails from Montreal, Quebec and is a product of the QMJHL. Here’s a piece I wrote on him earlier this season

Next: Marco Scandella Looks Good Early in contract year

The Wild have one major RFA left to sign in St. Paul: Mikael Granlund. Granlund isn’t quite producing at the level we expected yet, so don’t hold your breath on his contract yet. I imagine that will wait until the off-season.

Thanks to the brilliant work of Chuck Fletcher, it looks as though the top-4 defensemen in St. Paul will be around for years to come.

Who’s the best defender on the Wild, fans? Are you excited to see Marco Scandella is staying with the Wild? Let us know in the comments below!