3:51 p.m.: The first two seasons of Dumoulin’s contract are paid mostly via signing bonus, per PuckPedia. He also has a 10-team no-trade list throughout the deal.
1:38 p.m.: The Kings have signed defenseman Cody Ceci to a four-year contract carrying a $4.5MM cap hit and defenseman Brian Dumoulin to a three-year deal with a $4MM cap hit, the team announced. They’ve also signed goaltender Anton Forsberg to a two-year deal at $2.25MM per season to serve as Darcy Kuemper’s backup, per Frank Seravalli.
Los Angeles will lock in a bottom-pair defense in these moves, bringing in two veteran presences in Ceci and Dumoulin. Both are past their primes but still managed to fill top-end roles split between two teams this season. Ceci averaged over 21 games this season, after beginning the year as the clear top defender on a shallow San Jose Sharks club.
He recorded 15 points, 100 blocked shots, and 52 hits while playing nearly 22 minutes a night for 54 games in San Jose. That hardy performance was enough to convince the Dallas Stars to add him as playoff reassurance at the Trade Deadline, in a deal that sent a 2025 first-round pick to the Sharks in exchange for Ceci and Mikael Granlund. Ceci added nine assists in 31 games with the Stars, and played in 85 total games on the season due to the mid-year trade.
Ceci has played through 12 seasons in the NHL. Much of that has been headlined by questions around his two-way performance, but Ceci has remained a pillar of consistency each season, routinely filling top-end minutes and rivaling 25 points a season. He’s totaled 235 points, a plus-two, and an average of 21 minutes of ice time through 871 career games in the NHL.
Dumoulin’s career hasn’t spanned six different clubs like Ceci’s has, though he will be joining his fifth club in the last three years with this move. He was once the proud pillar of the Pittsburgh Penguins blue-line, routinely averaging top-four minutes and modest scoring while operating alongside or behind Kris Letang. Dumoulin’s responsible style and routine rivaling of 100 hits helped him earn a commanding role on both of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup wins. He’s been a bit less exciting in the years since his days in Pittsburgh – most recently recording 22 points, 109 blocked shots, and 74 hits between the Anaheim Ducks and New Jersey Devils this season. He continued to average over 19 minutes of ice time through this season, bringing his career-long average to just over 20 minutes across 706 career games. Dumoulin has chipped in 177 points, a plus-95, and over 1,000 blocked shots in those appearances.
Backing up the pair of heavily-used vets will be career-long backup goaltender Forsberg. He has spent the last three seasons serving as backup for the Ottawa Senators, after a one-season jump to the Senators’ starting role in 2021-22. He managed a .917 save percentage in 46 games during that starting season, and has since routinely rivaled a near-exact .900 save percentage while routinely appearing in 30 games. Those are quaint numbers over a multi-year span, but Forsberg has nonetheless shown he can handle a modest backup role. He’s set a .904 save percentage and 74-81-14 record in 190 career games, dating back to the 2014-15 season. While Los Angeles prepares to lockstep Ceci and Dumoulin, Forsberg will fill the backup role vacated by David Rittich.
PHR’s Gabriel Foley contributed significantly to this article.
Oh wow, those aren’t smart signings haha
There it is. The worst deal of the day. Unsurprising it goes to one of the good old boys in Ken Holland
Ummm id say Jeannot for 3.4 is worse
Dunno there’s been a number of very questionable signings but it’s definitely not good. I get they can’t force Gavrikov to sign with them but that doesn’t mean you have to give out his AAV to whomever replaces him.
Lol Holland
Desperate move.
How does Ceci keep getting contracts?
He’s not total trash, completely competent 3rd pairing guy that can slide higher during an injury.
But that’s absolutely an overpay. 1.75M feels more what he’s actually worth.
Signing leftover Oilers seems the plan for the Kings.
Holland is dumpster diving. Not a good week to be a Kings’ fan.
If you can’t beat ‘em, sign ‘em
Does anyone feel this team has improved?
No
They’re filling in depth gaps while relying on the young guys to continue their development. If Clarke, Byfield, Laferrierre, etc, continue their upward trajectory, then these depth signings will be just fine.
But are they as good as they were a week ago? I don’t think you could say yes.
On paper? No. But I thought the same thing last year and was pretty annoyed and they ended up being very good so I’m willing to wait and see before blowing up this time.
Excellent point. I’m sure 90% of us felt the same way, myself included.
For better or worse, right or wrong, I believe this is Holland putting his stamp of approval on this core being good enough to get it done, which is consistent with what he has said since being hired. We will see!
Neither. This team has better depth but Gavrikov is better than anyone they signed
U must be Edmonton Oilers fans bashing Ken Holland the Corey Perry signing was terrible as a kings fan but I like the 4 other player a lot of min
What does Ceci even do bro 💔
He’s gonna cash checks. He does that well
Really hope there is one big move still coming via trade. Or an Ehlers signing and then trade away a forward to make the cap space.
Otherwise this sucks balls
The interesting part about these 3 deals is deciding which one will turn out the worst.
There’s no defending these blunders out of the gate by Holland… So far, he’s making atrocious moves.
Is Rob Blake available?
Hah, these moves are as expected. Holland doing Holland things