Is commitment in the air on Saturday? Another notable contract extension took place tonight, as the Minnesota Wild handed defenseman Marco Scandella a five-year pact.
It’s worth $4 million per year ($20 million overall), according to various sources including the Pioneer Press’ Chad Graff and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Michael Russo.
The 24-year-old was set to become an RFA after this season. As of this writing, he’ll carry the third-highest cap hit among Wild defenseman behind Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin.
Scandella’s seeing his best ice time since 2011-12, as he’s averaging 21:38 per night, almost three minutes better than his 18:49 TOI from 2013-14. He has eight points in 20 contests, priming him to improve upon his career-best mark of 17 points from last season.
He already has five tallies, which is a career-best, with his latest impression being an overtime game-winner against Dallas from Friday:
Scandella deal got done in 4-5 phone calls. Fletcher joked to Brent Flahr after 2nd OT winner: "Get it done. It's not getting any cheaper."
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) November 30, 2014
One point about the duration of the deal:
Scandella deal basically buys 3 of his unrestricted years #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) November 30, 2014