Ottawa Senators Sign Cody Ceci To Two-Year Deal
After negotiating for most of the summer, the Ottawa Senators have reached an agreement with restricted free agent defenseman Cody Ceci on a new two-year contract. The deal is worth $5.6MM in total, giving Ceci a $2.8MM cap-hit.
Ceci, 22, hit RFA status for the first time in his career after putting up back to back impressive seasons. His 26 points in 2015-16 ranked him second among Senators’ defensemen (only trailing superstar Erik Karlsson) while skating with Patrick Wiercioch or Dion Phaneuf for most of the season. With Phaneuf signed long-term, expect Ceci to form a duo with the former Maple Leaf for years to come.
The deal is just for two years, as was reported months ago by Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, and represents a bridge deal for the young defenseman. Still an RFA at the contract’s end, Ceci will try to prove that he deserves a big-money deal to buy out a number of his free agent years. The problem is, that he’ll almost assuredly never climb higher than the second pairing because he plays the same side as Karlsson. This may cause problems for the internal budget of the Senators down the road, with Phaneuf signed through 2020-21 at $7MM and Karlsson needing a new, even bigger deal after the 2018-19 season.
[Related: Ottawa Senators Updated Depth Chart]
According to Garrioch, Ceci’s camp was looking for a six-year deal this time around, to lock up their client long-term with the club and buyout a few of his free agent years – the hesitation by the Senators is probably not due to a lack of trust in the player, but an uncertainty when it comes to their financial future. Owner Eugene Melnyk spoke at the end of the season about how important playoff revenues were to the team:
I’m looking at all of it, right across the board, nobody is safe when you have a year like we just did. The status quo would just get us there again next year and this team cannot survive not making the playoffs.
You can’t just throw money at these things. We all know other teams that would just throw money at things for decades and they’ve gotten nowhere. We need to do it a different way and I think we are.
However the picture shakes out down the line, for now the Senators have locked up an important part of their blueline for the immediate future. With Marc Methot, the top four is essentially written in pen going into camp, with Ceci sure to see some time on the second powerplay unit as well.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NHL Award Recipients
The NHL Awards were given out tonight in Las Vegas, with a little bit extra fanfare due to the upcoming expansion team. Here is the full list of winners, with the top two runners-up in each category:
Calder Trophy (top rookie)
Ted Lindsay Award (most outstanding player as voted by the players)
General Manager of the Year
- Jim Rutherford
- Brian McClellen
- Jim Nill
Masterton Trophy (perseverance and dedication to hockey)
- Jaromir Jagr
- Mats Zucarello
- Pascal Dupuis
Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award
Norris Trophy (top defenceman)
Selke Trophy (forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game)
Jack Adams Award (top head coach)
- Barry Trotz
- Gerard Gallant
- Lindy Ruff
Lady Byng Trophy (player best combining sportsmanship and ability)
Vezina Trophy (top goaltender)
Hart Trophy (most valuable player to his team)
Congratulations to all the winners, and the teams who employ them.
Free Agent Focus: Ottawa Senators
After a season in 2014-15 that saw the Ottawa Senators put up 99 points and make the playoffs, last year was a big disappointment. Despite having a legitimate superstar in Erik Karlsson on the blueline, Ottawa went just 38-35-9 and missed the playoffs by 8 points. Karlsson put up 82 points and is a candidate to win his third Norris trophy, and would hide a lot of flaws on any team with his exceptional possession and offensive numbers.
With a very young roster, the team is another cap-floor team like Carolina (which we profiled earlier today) and won’t spend anywhere near the $71MM cap. They do however have some important names to re-sign if they want to build this core together. Here’s a look at their upcoming offseason:
Key Restricted Free Agent: LW Mike Hoffman – Following Hoffman’s breakout 2014-15 season where he scored 27 goals, the former 5th round pick improved in almost every category this season. Racking up 29 goals and 59 points, the 6’1″ winger moved to a spot on the top line and flourished in his new role, averaging almost 18 minutes a night.
Hoffman will turn 27 next season and will be looking for a long-term deal with the Senators this summer; paid $2MM last season, he’s earned a much bigger deal this time around. If the Senators aren’t willing to commit long-term to the Kitchener, Ontario native, Hoffman could sign a one-year deal and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. If he could hit that 30-goal mark in 2016-17, he’d be in for a huge payday.
Other RFAs: C Ryan Dzingel, RW Alex Chiasson, RW Buddy Robinson, LW Matt Puempel, D Fredrik Claesson, D Cody Ceci, D Patrick Wiercioch
Key Unrestricted Free Agent: None. The Senators only have two players hitting UFA status this summer, and both Scott Gomez and Mike Kostka are insignificant to their future plans. The 36-year old Gomez hasn’t been an effective NHL player in years, and Kostka is a minor-league journeyman who has never had NHL success.
Projected Cap Space: $17.5MM, 18 players under contract.
The blockbuster deal to bring over Dion Phaneuf from the Toronto Maple Leafs last season made a huge impact on the Sens’ salary structure going forward, inducing a cap hit of $7MM a season for the next five. Fortunately for Ottawa, Phaneuf’s deal was front-loaded and they’ll only be paying him $5.5MM in his age-35 season, despite the big cap hit.
It’s the NMC in his deal that may be troublesome for the Senators, as he’ll have automatic protection in next year’s expansion draft. With Karlsson obviously also needing it, the Senators will only have one more defenceman protection slot to use on their other young blueliners.
Overall, the team is in good shape going forward without many anchoring contracts, and a large crop of young players. They’ll try to get back to the playoffs this season, and may sign a veteran or two to help lead the group there.