I want to preface this comment by saying that I really enjoyed the debate on Scandella. I think there is a lot of truth to both sides and my personal belief/opinion is that the current state of analytics in hockey is poorest at measuring the contribution of defensive defensemen. Looking at last season, I don't think that Scandella was as bad as his possession stats indicate but I also don't think that he was as good as his goal-based stats indicate.
For me, the issue with Scandella is not about him being unworthy of his salary in a vacuum. I think that he does what should be reasonably expected out of a $3.275M D man. However, my issue/concern about Scandella is that in order to be a contender, the construction of our blue line needs more than the reasonably expected value of a $3.275M D man in his position of the lineup. For me, my "complaint" is directed at Army's decision to make Krug the #1 LHD on the roster on a long term deal at $6.5M. That decision (combined with the Faulk acquisition/extension) locked in Krug, Faulk, and Parayko as 3 of the top 4 and demanded that the next-best LHD must be big, defend like a #2 or #3 D man and be the backbone of a PK unit. Scandella fits those criteria as well as you can reasonably expect at $3.275M, but realistically you need a $5M+ guy to be well above average in all 3 areas. In my opinion, Scandella is a 2nd/3rd pair tweener D man on a contender and we are plugging him into a 1st/2nd pair tweener role.
I want to move Scandella not because he isn't worth his contract, but because I think we need a $5M+ caliber defensive LHD in order to be a contender and I'm not sold that we have the cap flexibility to keep a $3.275M Scandella on the roster as a 5th D man. I think we need an upgrade in the middle section of our blue line. We're not upgrading Parayko and Faulk/Krug have full NTCs. I don't think we can realistically upgrade Faulk at (or below) $6.5M without shedding serious assets and I think that Krug's contract currently has negative value. I just don't see how we could afford to bring in a legit 1st/2nd tweener LHD, keep Scandella AND afford Parayko's next contract. So that means that if we are upgrading the middle of the blueline, it just kind of has to be Scandella. Teams just don't really give up legit top 4 D men on bargain contracts with term. If we can find one and keep Scandella as the 5th D man, then that would be great. I just don't know how we do that.
It isn't that Scandella isn't worth $3.275M. It's that we need a player worth $5M+ in his role and can't do that without moving Scandella's contract.