Oilers will have a trade market if they want to deal Ceci: report
The Edmonton Oilers are reportedly looking to make a change on the blue line and veteran defender Cody Ceci could be the guy that finds his way out of town.
There is no question that the team’s biggest need after a busy start to free agency is a second pair, right-shot defenceman to play alongside Darnell Nurse. Ceci has held that role for the last couple of years but struggled mightily in the playoffs and found himself demoted down to the third pairing.
At a $3.25 million cap hit, having Ceci on the third pair is a bit of an expensive problem to have, especially a team as close to the cap as the Oilers. It may be a difficult trade to make to dump his entire cap hit, but Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported on Monday night’s edition of OilersNow that teams are interested in trading for Ceci.
“I can tell you with 100% certainty that there is a market for Cody Ceci,” Seravalli said. “Right-shot defencemen in that pay range are always in demand, and just go look at the free agent market this summer and look at some of the money thrown around.
“Cody Ceci at that number is really quite palatable and in fact, probably to some teams that are cap-strapped, interesting.”
With all that said, the Oilers will have to be the team that ultimately decides whether or not they want to move on from Ceci. He’s struggled the last two seasons and is 30 years old, so a sudden rebound back to form is unlikely at this stage.
Still, Seravalli made it sound like trading Ceci is not at the top of the Oilers’ wishlist.
“There’s a break glass in case of emergency if Jeff Jackson and the Oilers want it, and, in the meantime, let’s see what develops.”
Offloading Ceci would only be one part of the solution for the Oilers if they want to upgrade their defensive group. Part of the savings they would get from getting out from under Ceci’s contract would have to be allocated toward RFAs Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg. Edmonton would then need to find a player who can handle the top-four minutes and can play on the right side.
Broberg is a left-handed defender, but he could still be a potential option. He spent a little bit of time playing on his off-side last season and showed a lot of promise in the postseason this past year. However, it would be a big risk to stake such an important spot in the lineup on a player who doesn’t have a ton of experience and hasn’t played his off-side for an extended period of time in the NHL.
Something needs to happen on the backend, and we’ll see if that includes a trade involving Ceci.