NHL: Oilers’ Cody Ceci ca
Now Set For NHL trade deadline reality…. ‘It’s always stressful…
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NHL: Oilers’ Cody Ceci can’t ignore NHL trade deadline reality: ‘It’s always stressful’
April 20, 2024; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci (5) against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY…
BOSTON — Cody Ceci isn’t naïve at the best of times. That’s particularly the case now.
“It’s always stressful,” the veteran Edmonton Oilers defenceman said. “Especially with social media nowadays, so many people can make up a mock trade and you see your name thrown around.
“It’s tough when you look at your phone and you see your name pop up.”
Ceci’s name has swirled in speculation ahead of Friday’s 1 p.m. MT trade deadline, mainly because of the salary cap and the way the Oilers roster is constructed.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Oilers made an offer to the rival Calgary Flames for Chris Tanev that included a first-round pick heading south. The proviso was the Flames needed to take a player from the Oilers to make the money work and Tanev was dealt to Dallas instead. Friedman also noted that a similar package was extended to Philadelphia for Sean Walker before he was sent to Colorado.
Like Ceci, both Tanev and Walker are right-shooting defencemen. Because Evan Bouchard isn’t going anywhere and Vincent Desharnais has a $762,500 cap hit, that leaves just one righty blueliner on the Oilers.
It’d be all but a necessity to move Ceci and his $3.25 million cap hit for this season and next to bring in another right-sided blueliner.
“I do feel like I’m a big part of the team — and I want to be a part of it,” he said. “You invest so much over the years, and I feel like I’ve invested a lot over the last couple of years with this group.
“I definitely want to fight with these guys this year in the playoffs.”
The Athletic is grading every trade of the NHL trade deadline.
The Oilers acquiring forwards Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick from Anaheim on Wednesday, plus Tanev and Walker being dealt, vastly decreases the odds of Ceci getting traded.
The Oilers have just $1.22 million in deadline cap space remaining, per PuckPedia, after sending Sam Gagner to AHL Bakersfield. They had $2.73 million, per CapFriendly, before bringing in Henrique and Carrick.
Holland also indicated on Wednesday that he likes his six regular defencemen and that nabbing a veteran No. 7 guy is the most likely outcome before the deadline.
Until the deadline passes, though, it can’t be completely ruled out that the Oilers might make a bigger splash — which could impact Ceci.
All this comes as the Oilers, led by assistant coach Paul Coffey, decided to change their defence pairs before Sunday’s 6-1 win over Pittsburgh.
The switches put Ceci with Brett Kulak, whereas Desharnais moved alongside Ceci’s longtime partner Darnell Nurse. Those pairings were also test-driven a month ago before quickly reverting.
“It gives us three stable pairs to roll out the door,” Ceci said.
Ceci played just 15:35, last among Oilers blueliners, in a 2-1 overtime win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. It was his second-lowest ice time of any game this season.
The switch has resulted in a more sheltered role for Ceci, who has played 831 of his 1,010 five-on-five minutes next to Nurse and often against the opposition’s best offensive players. The pair has just been able to hold their own.
Per Natural Stat Trick, the Oilers hold a 36-35 edge in goals and 51.6 expected goals percentage. However, per PuckIQ, the Oilers are being outscored 16-12 with Ceci on the ice against elite competition.
It’s a tough, thankless job — but one crucial to a team’s success.
Ceci’s been an admirable replacement for Adam Larsson, who bolted for the Seattle Kraken as a free agent in July 2021. He was regarded as Edmonton’s most consistent and reliable defender in his first season — which ended with the Oilers getting to the Western Conference final before being swept by Colorado.
“He’s steady. You know what you’re going to get every time he goes on the ice,” said winger Zach Hyman, Ceci’s teammate in Toronto and Edmonton. “He’s hard to play against.”
And then there’s the part about intangibles.
Ceci is well-liked in the Oilers dressing room and has made connections with his teammates and the city.
His wife, Jamie, gave birth to the couple’s first child — a girl named Sawyer — in Edmonton last April. They spent the All-Star break with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, his wife, Breanne, and their daughter, Lennon, who was born in August.
“When you get your family involved and then everyone’s close off the ice, you build a lot of chemistry on the ice,” Ceci said. “When you keep a group together, especially a strong group — and it has to be a strong group to be able to do that — but it just gives you a chance year after year. We’ve worked our way into a good spot again this year to give ourselves a chance.
“When you have a good team, you’re able to keep it together more so than not.”
There’s something to be said about not upsetting the apple cart too much considering the Oilers are 35-11-1 since Kris Knoblauch replaced Jay Woodcroft as coach on Nov. 12. That .755 points percentage is tops in the league.
“You always have to be careful about making changes just for the fact of changing,” Knoblauch said. “You have to know the effect on what you’re taking out of your lineup and that you’re disrupting chemistry within the team. It’s really important to add the right type of player.
“Often when you look at the best player available, it doesn’t usually work out the best.”
“We’re a very good team,” Hyman said. “You don’t want to do too much, but you don’t want to do too little. You want to make your team better. It’s a fine line.”
Perhaps Henrique and Carrick move the needle enough and are the right infusion on and off the ice for the team. Maybe the Oilers don’t need another big addition on defence.
On the other hand, Tyson Barrie was an immensely popular teammate, often acting as the social convener on the road, and quarterbacked the league’s top power play before he was dealt last February. The Oilers acquired Ekholm in that trade, and he’s been a better hockey fit as a stalwart defender. They also had Bouchard ready to assume Barrie’s power-play duties. That’s worked out splendidly, too.
New bonds are forged, and different types of chemistry are developed when someone is shipped out and another player comes in. Winning matters more than the alternative in the end. Heck, perhaps no one is more popular than Gagner and he was a regular healthy scratch before being demoted to the minors.
But Ceci has been a notable part of a team that’s appeared in five playoff series in the last two springs.
He’s no dummy. He’s 30 and on his fourth big-league team. He gets the business.
He just hopes he can stay in Edmonton a while longer to help the Oilers pursue the Stanley Cup.
“We have a good thing here,” Ceci said. “We’ve been in the fight the last couple of years. Again, this year, we’re marching our way up the standings. I don’t think they want to screw with it too, too much.
“A big part of it is keeping guys together going into it.”
(Photo: Sergei Belski / USA Today)
Daniel Nugent-Bowman is a staff writer who covers the Edmonton Oilers for The Athletic. Daniel has written about hockey for Sportsnet, The Hockey News, Yahoo Canada Sports and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. Follow Daniel on Twitter @DNBsports
