Dreger: Cody Ceci agrees to deal with the Leafs (1 year, $4.5M - NOT YET SIGNED)

[Liferleafer]

Now down to 6.5m in cap space. How much will kerfoot cost?

You don't math so good....

 

[Deadly Dogma]

Leafs are doing a smart move here. They've agreed to the deal but appear to be waiting to make it official. Gives them more cap flexibility.

Leafs need a RD. Even if Ceci is a bottom pairing RD, that's 2.5-3.5 on the open market. They overpaid to facilitate the trade and also put themselves in a scenario where Ceci will be off the books next year if needed. There aren't many veteran RDs available with 1 year of term or who would sign for 1 year.

Ceci is not the top pairing defenceman he has been deployed as, but he also isn't as bad as the advanced stats paint him. He is a 4-5 who struggled as a 1-2 shutdown guy.

Any news on the rumor that Ceci and the Leafs are talking about a 2 yr deal that offers lockout protection but less AAV

 

[al secord]

Now down to 6.5m in cap space. How much will kerfoot cost?

2 + 2 = Jello?

 

[LeafsLegendAkiBerg]

Why has he not signed yet? Are they going to flip him?

He's electing to go to arbitration, it seems. Thread title is inaccurate.

 

[NoName]

Now down to 6.5m in cap space. How much will kerfoot cost?

Er... how? CapFriendly lists them at $11.1m in space. Even if they were to sign Ceci for $4.5m that would leave them way more to spend then $6.6m for the following reasons:

During summer teams are allowed to spend up to 10% above the cap.

As soon as the season begins, Nathan Horton and his $5.3 million Contract goes on LTIR.

So in practical terms they have $16.4 million in cap space for their day 1 roster ($11.9m if they give Ceci $4.5 million) and a few million more then that to spend for the duration of the summer.

So yeah, enough to definitely sign Marner, even if they don’t let Ceci walk.

 

[Fogelhund]

Not so fast, for example

To Toronto
Faulk
2nd round pick

To Carolina
Nylander

Toronto now has about 3.7 million in cap savings and can possibly offer someone like Ferland a 4 yr x 4 mil

That doesn't make any sense at all.

We've already got Muzzin, Ceci, Dermott and Barrie who would need new contracts next year, and won't be cheap... add Faulk in there.... we could afford to keep two (maybe three if one is cheap) at best... so why give away Nylander on a long-term contract, to end up losing a player after a year.... plus there is the expansion draft... how many can we protect again?

 

[Michoulicious]

He's electing to go to arbitration, it seems. Thread title is inaccurate.

So Dreger was wrong, again.

 

[JerseyMike34]

I'm curious, if he doesn't go to arbitration (since the rules change), even though he has a QO. Could the Leafs offer him a 3-yr/$8 M salary (3.66 AAV) and could he accept it? Or is he limited to just the QO?

 

[Beville]

Please sign him for a long time

 

[TML1967]

Why has he not signed yet? Are they going to flip him?

They talked about it on the Steve Dangle Podcast.
One of the hosts suggested signing him at as low an AAV as you can (his QO is 4.3m) and make it like 3.6m signing bonus and 700k salary. Find a cap strapped team who had a guy who make more than his AAV and make the swap.

i.e. Ceci at 4.5 aav (700k dollars)
for
Demello (900k salary+cap) + Condon (2.4 cap, 3m salary)

Demello is the better RHD.
Leafs put Condon in the AHL, moving his cap hit down to 1.325.

Essentially you trade Ceci for Demello and gain 2.275m in cap space.
Ottawa saves 3.2m in actual $.

 

[mouser]

I'm curious, if he doesn't go to arbitration (since the rules change), even though he has a QO. Could the Leafs offer him a 3-yr/$8 M salary (3.66 AAV) and could he accept it? Or is he limited to just the QO?

Toronto can offer any sort of contract to Ceci that they want, and Ceci is free to negotiate in return. The qualifying offer doesn’t restrict teams and players from negotiating a different deal.

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

Why don't the leafs walk away from the arbitration award if it's above the 4.4 threshold? Take the cap savings and look into upgrading the 3 c (Eakin). Or circle back on gards. I'd rather walk than pay ceci 4. 5 for any number of years

 

[TT1]

They shoulda just walked away from him , they're still digging their own grave..

 

[mouser]

Why don't the leafs walk away from the arbitration award if it's above the 4.4 threshold? Take the cap savings and look into upgrading the 3 c (Eakin). Or circle back on gards. I'd rather walk than pay ceci 4. 5 for any number of years

The flip side of that is if Ceci thinks that could happen and he can’t sign a bigger deal as a UFA then he’s better off accepting the qualifying offer at $4.3m.

I don’t know what value to make of Ceci, but I suspect a lot of GM’s will hold him in higher esteem then the prevailing HFB view.

 

[JerseyMike34]

Toronto can offer any sort of contract to Ceci that they want, and Ceci is free to negotiate in return. The qualifying offer doesn’t restrict teams and players from negotiating a different deal.

What's to stop a team (and I'm not saying Toronto, but any team) to suggest to a player to take more money in 2 or 3 years to lower an AAV then take 1 larger QO and be told you'll be the odd man out, and thus hurting your value the following offseason?

Using Ceci here, He can get 1-year/$4.5-4.7 and maybe he plays #7 or gets shipped to the Marlies.
Or he signs a 3-year/$9M deal, and maybe plays.

I don't know of anyone signing something like that, but it seems logical (at sometime or another) for both parties, does it not?

 

[phillipmike]

Oh god why?

You just got rid of Zaitsev. Why create another?

 

[Duke16]

I think the Leafs were prepared to sign Ceci since somebody needed to play D for us, but the acquisitions of Kerfoot and namely Barrie may have changed their gameplan.

I wouldn't be shocked to see this go to arb with the Leafs walking away from it. The Leafs would probably look for a cheaper, more under-the-radar right-handed trade target.

Rielly-Dermott
Muzzin-Barrie
XXX - Pysyk or Weegar (?)

XXX could be any of Marincin, Borgman, Kivihalme, Harpur, or Gravel.

I suggested Pysyk or Weegar because Florida already has Ekblad and just signed Stralman.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Has there been any reports that contradict this one year agreement?

I don't get why people would be surprised that it hasn't signed yet. Leafs still have moving parts to deal with. I'm not suggesting they will go back on a verbal agreement with Ceci, only that waiting to make the contract official until as late as possible gives them more flexibility since it leaves an additional 4.5M open.

 

[mouser]

What's to stop a team (and I'm not saying Toronto, but any team) to suggest to a player to take more money in 2 or 3 years to lower an AAV then take 1 larger QO and be told you'll be the odd man out, and thus hurting your value the following offseason?

Using Ceci here, He can get 1-year/$4.5-4.7 and maybe he plays #7 or gets shipped to the Marlies.
Or he signs a 3-year/$9M deal, and maybe plays.

I don't know of anyone signing something like that, but it seems logical (at sometime or another) for both parties, does it not?

Absolutely, we’ve seen some examples of players taking less then the QO for security. The question comes back to what is Ceci’s value on the UFA market? He’s certainly maligned here on the forums for the most part, but what do GM’s actually think of him?

 

[Nazzlind]

It was binding arbitration. No walking away.

It was always set in stone he was making this $ when he was traded. The sens qualified him before and binding arb was set.

So many people so ill informed.

What do you mean by binding arbitration?

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

Oh god why?

You just got rid of Zaitsev. Why create another?

Very much hope this is untrue unless it's dirt cheep. I hope they walk away and replace ceci w a cheaper option like Hutton and upgrade the middle shut down 3rd pivot spot. Kerfoot is not that strong on the d side. Id be more comfortable w a better balance. I was hoping for jost in my theoretical pre barrie trade musings. Oh well

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Absolutely, we’ve seen some examples of players taking less then the QO for security. The question comes back to what is Ceci’s value on the UFA market? He’s certainly maligned here on the forums for the most part, but what do GM’s actually think of him?

He didn’t have seem to have great value on the trade market. He needs to re-establish his value now that he’s left Ottawa.

I think he bets on himself and takes the 1 year deal

 

[Mickey Marner]

Has there been any reports that contradict this one year agreement?

I don't get why people would be surprised that it hasn't signed yet. Leafs still have moving parts to deal with. I'm not suggesting they will go back on a verbal agreement with Ceci, only that waiting to make the contract official until as late as possible gives them more flexibility since it leaves an additional 4.5M open.

They could be waiting until Oct 2nd when Horton has been put on the opening day LTIR. If someone wants to OS Ceci, you take the 2nd round pick as comp and re-sign Gardiner, who's twiddling his thumbs as we speak. Plenty of different scenarios.

 

[innitfam]

What do you mean by binding arbitration?

The decision of the arbitrator is final and must be abided by.

 

[yababy]

The Leafs currently have just over 11 million in cap space and that's without having Horton on LTIR so realistically they have about 16 million

Minus Ceci's 4.5m