When the Canadiens picked up Marco Scandella in January 2020, it barely registered as more than a depth move for a veteran defenseman. More than six years later, though, that short-lived stint has become part of a trade chain that still matters in Montreal.
The whole thing started with a fourth-round pick. On January 2, 2020, the Canadiens sent that selection to the Buffalo Sabres for Scandella.
Buffalo didn’t hang onto the pick either, flipping it to the Calgary Flames in the Michael Frolik deal. Frolik put up four points in 19 games for Buffalo before reaching unrestricted free agency, then signed with Montreal that summer.
Calgary later used the pick on goaltender Daniil Chechelev.
Montreal’s real move came 48 days after landing Scandella. The Canadiens sent him to the St.
Louis Blues for a second-round pick in 2020 and a conditional fourth-rounder in 2021. In a little under two months, Montreal had turned a fourth-rounder into a second and another fourth while getting 20 games out of Scandella.
Marc Bergevin kept working the assets from there. The second-round pick from St.
Louis became the 57th overall selection in 2020, but Montreal didn’t make the pick. Instead, the Canadiens sent it to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a second-rounder in 2021 and a fourth-round pick in 2020.
That branch of the tree produced three prospects. Montreal used the 2020 fourth-rounder from Tampa Bay to draft Sean Farrell.
The 2021 second-round pick became Oliver Kapanen. The fourth-round selection originally acquired from St.
Louis turned into defenseman William Trudeau.
At the time, each name carried some intrigue. Farrell emerged as one of Montreal’s more interesting prospects after a strong collegiate career at Harvard.
Trudeau developed into a pro defenseman with the Laval Rocket. But Kapanen has become the piece that makes the entire sequence worth revisiting now.
The Finnish centre was not a slam-dunk pick when the Canadiens took him 64th overall in 2021. He spent the next few years developing in Finland before making the jump to North America. Now, he’s part of Montreal’s NHL roster.
That’s the twist in the story. When Kapanen was drafted, he was hardly a headline prospect.
His path was slower, and he had to earn his place in the organization’s plans. By 2026, though, he had turned into a legitimate NHL option for the Canadiens.
After scoring 22 goals in his rookie season, the 23-year-old has given Montreal another young forward who can help across the lineup.
Farrell is no longer in the organization after being traded to the Anaheim Ducks for Sasha Pastujov, so even that side of the trade tree continues. Trudeau remains part of the club’s organizational depth on defense. Still, Kapanen becoming an NHL contributor already makes the sequence a strong return.
Montreal didn’t give up a core player or a premium pick to start this chain. It gave Buffalo a fourth-round selection, got 20 games from Scandella, then moved him quickly and kept turning the pieces over. The result was Farrell, Trudeau and, most importantly, Kapanen.
It’s a reminder that draft picks can be a long game. Nothing is guaranteed once teams move past the first round, but the Canadiens gave themselves multiple chances here - and Kapanen turned out to be the payoff.
In Other News...
Florian Xhekaj Just Forced A Bigger Canadiens Roster Debate
Florian Xhekaj has spent training camp making himself harder to ignore, and not just because of the name on the back of the sweater. He has been skating with established players, showing the kind of physical development that tends to catch a coachs eye in September, and the broader Canadiens picture only adds to the intrigue with his brother Arber having recently signed a one-year deal in the organization.
The latest reminder came in a preseason meeting with Toronto, where Xhekaj dropped the gloves and added another layer to an already interesting camp battle. For Montreal, it is the sort of development that can sharpen a roster conversation quickly: a young player pushing for attention, a team looking at its depth and identity, and a decision that gets tougher when the physical edge starts to show up in real games. [Read more 🡒]
Arber Xhekaj Created A Canadiens Issue Fans Didn't Expect
The Canadiens preseason doubleheader against the Maple Leafs produced plenty of the usual camp noise, but Arber Xhekaj found himself at the center of an unexpected off-ice discussion. While serving a penalty, he was seen in the box using a cell phone to watch his brother Florian Xhekajs fight in the other game, a quirky scene that quickly drew attention beyond the scoreboard and into the leagues rulebook.
Montreal fans already had reason to keep an eye on Florian, who has been pushing for a roster spot and turned in a solid outing with an assist, a blocked shot and plenty of physical play. Now the focus has shifted to what comes next for Arber, because the NHL bans cell phones on the bench and in the penalty box, making this less of a lighthearted family moment and more of a situation that could carry a penalty of its own. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Face New Lineup Concern After Practice Absences
The Canadiens had a different look at practice as Alexandre Carrier, Jake Evans and Lucas Condotta were not on the ice with the regular group. Josh Nadeau and Dillan Bentley were moved into Group A, while Laurent Dauphin joined Group B to help fill the gaps, a sign that the club was shuffling things around before its next preseason outing against the Ottawa Senators.
The absences have not been explained, so it is not clear whether this was simply maintenance or tied to what happened in the previous game. Evans is the name worth watching most closely after he left that contest early with an apparent injury, and with no official lineup announced yet, the Canadiens still have a little uncertainty hanging over how they will look when they return to game action. [Read more 🡒]