As expected, the Edmonton Oilers have added Cody Ceci to the mix according to Darren Dreger of TSN. The veteran defenseman has signed a four-year deal that will carry an average annual value of $3.25MM. The Oilers moved out Ethan Bear earlier today to make room for Ceci and the re-signed Tyson Barrie.
The Oilers are hoping that having Barrie and Ceci lead the right side of their defense works out better than it did for the Toronto Maple Leafs not long ago. Obviously, the team is already familiar with Barrie, but they are taking a risk on Ceci. Edmonton is banking on Ceci playing like he did this past season in Pittsburgh for the next four years and not like how he played in Toronto and Ottawa before that. The Penguins succeeded with Ceci in not asking him to do too much and letting him focus on just playing competent defense in limited minutes and against less difficult match-ups. At $3.25MM and on a longer term deal than any other Edmonton defense, it does not seem like the Oilers plan to let Ceci sit back and play a depth role. They risk poor results if they push him into too great a role, trying to replace the departed Adam Larsson, which could make this a difficult contract for the team.
Ceci, 27, may have learned enough from his season in Pittsburgh that he can try again at serving in a top-four role. Ceci averaged 21:25 per game through his first six full NHL seasons, during which time he was a combined -48 rating. This year, he played just 18:31 per game and earned a +18 rating. While moving the puck will likely never be a strength of Ceci’s, perhaps he is ready to take on more of a shutdown approach if handed more minutes. How the Oilers choose to use Ceci will almost certainly dictate whether he is able to succeed in Edmonton.
“….re-signed Tyson Barrie.” @Gavin, you have no idea how many expletives I’m going to utter today just on that segment! Way to go, Ken!
Retooling the D with Leaf retreads. Makes you wonder where it all went wrong.
Lmao this team just doesn’t learn.
I’m confused on why they signed Ceci to trade bear, isn’t bear an up and coming guy? Isn’t ceci plateaued? I don’t get to see a bunch of the canadien teams play due to geography but I was under the impression bear could be somebody
@parx – You are correct. He was a prospect that EDM was pretty high on. That is, until he was hit by an errant puck while on the bench. He was out for a longer-than-expected amount of time, and I believe he may still be suffering concussion symptoms. He didn’t seem quite right, and his game suffered. I was really hoping he’d get better treatment, somewhere, somehow, and get back to his normal self. I hope, for his sake it can still happen, it’ll just be in a new city.
The Oilers were 10th best in the regular season, then got pushed around in the playoffs when the refs dont call anything.
With Larson leaving they were left with having Bear, Barrie, Bouchard, none of which are heavy players or PK guys. Ceci can still move the puck but can PK and plays heavier. I am not sure there is much between them, but the Oilers get Foegel as well – a pretty decent player with some bite.
But then what do I know. All the cool people on the internet like to rag on just about anything the Oilers do.
Ceci was great for us last year. A smart GM would have found a way to keep him.
Ceci got four years? From a NHL team? At a rate of multiple millions of dollars? On purpose?
Welcome to the life of an oilers fan…
I am embarrassed to be a fan today..
Ladies and gentlemen your Edmonton Maple Leafs.
Ok he’s not Adam but he’s a bigger guy and plays bigger than Ethan could. The trade makes sense all the way around. Welcome Cody go shut em down and keep the puck out of the net. Essentially just go play the game. Duncan as a partner won’t hurt either