Confirmed with Link: Cody Ceci signed by Edmonton (4 years @3.25mil)

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Not often Tom Wilson gets the wrong end of a shoulder to shoulder collision. If this is Ceci, on a nightly basis, fans are going to love him. No wonder Pittsburgh fans wanted him protected in the expansion draft and extended.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Not often Tom Wilson gets the wrong end of a shoulder to shoulder collision. If this is Ceci, on a nightly basis, fans are going to love him. No wonder Pittsburgh fans wanted him protected in the expansion draft and extended.

Pulling a highlight from a depth player and hoping they repeat it on a nightly basis is setting yourself up for disappointment.

I really hope he's as good as Penguins fans say and not as bad as everyone else says. I guess we'll find out soon enough, but the term has me very nervous.

 

[GOilers88]

"Tom's was clean on Jankowski just too late, Joe."

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

"Tom's was clean on Jankowski just too late, Joe."

Ah the old clean late hit. It's like Raffi Torres, he had tons of cleans hits, if he just kept his elbows down.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Not often Tom Wilson gets the wrong end of a shoulder to shoulder collision. If this is Ceci, on a nightly basis, fans are going to love him. No wonder Pittsburgh fans wanted him protected in the expansion draft and extended.

I get the sense he's just going to be a better player then people think(or remember) and I think it won't matter because I expect Bouchard to rise above the RHD by the end of the year.

 

[GOilers88]

Ah the old clean late hit. It's like Raffi Torres, he had tons of cleans hits, if he just kept his elbows down.

f*** I loved Raffi. I never thought he was a really dirty player but apparently I'm one of very, very few. Seemed like everytime he hit someone he got suspended for it.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

f*** I loved Raffi. I never thought he was a really dirty player but apparently I'm one of very, very few. Seemed like everytime he hit someone he got suspended for it.

He was just of a "before time" where his hits weren't dirty (see the hit in the 2006 playoffs against the Sharks) but once the league got scared into taking concussions somewhat seriously, his tendency to target the head made it really tough to ignore.

 

[Oilhawks]

Not often Tom Wilson gets the wrong end of a shoulder to shoulder collision. If this is Ceci, on a nightly basis, fans are going to love him. No wonder Pittsburgh fans wanted him protected in the expansion draft and extended.

Really nice hit on big Wilson

I wonder if Jankowski gets signed by anyone. Has had a couple of rough seasons to go with his decent couple in the bottom 6 with the Flames. I wouldn’t mind if they took a flyer on him for more competition.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Really nice hit on big Wilson

I wonder if Jankowski gets signed by anyone. Has had a couple of rough seasons to go with his decent couple in the bottom 6 with the Flames. I wouldn’t mind if they took a flyer on him for more competition.

He was really terrible for the Pens last year, no thanks, there are better options out there.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

Pulling a highlight from a depth player and hoping they repeat it on a nightly basis is setting yourself up for disappointment.

I really hope he's as good as Penguins fans say and not as bad as everyone else says. I guess we'll find out soon enough, but the term has me very nervous.

As someone who absolutely despises this signing he really isn't as bad as his reputation indicates, even when he was in Toronto he wasn't some Barrie esque defensive mess like Leafs fans would make you think he was (it was actually offense that he sucked at every time I saw him, and the metrics line up with that). I didn't watch him this year besides the playoff series vs the Islanders but analytically he seemed to basically be a poor man's Larsson: similar low QoC (Ceci tended to play vs 3rd/4th lines more often than Larsson but neither was deployed much vs top 6 forwards), similar usage in terms of ice time/penalty killing/defensive zone starts, similar decent defensive metrics poor offensive metrics (although Ceci was lower for both).

I'd actually be cool with this signing if it was a 1 year deal at maybe slightly higher cost than he was in Pittsburgh but why the f*** did we have to give him 3.25 million for 4 years??????????????

 

[Mr Positive]

As someone who absolutely despises this signing he really isn't as bad as his reputation indicates, even when he was in Toronto he wasn't some Barrie esque defensive mess like Leafs fans would make you think he was (it was actually offense that he sucked at every time I saw him, and the metrics line up with that). I didn't watch him this year besides the playoff series vs the Islanders but analytically he seemed to basically be a poor man's Larsson: similar low QoC (Ceci tended to play vs 3rd/4th lines more often than Larsson but neither was deployed much vs top 6 forwards), similar usage in terms of ice time/penalty killing/defensive zone starts, similar decent defensive metrics poor offensive metrics (although Ceci was lower for both).

I'd actually be cool with this signing if it was a 1 year deal at maybe slightly higher cost than he was in Pittsburgh but why the f*** did we have to give him 3.25 million for 4 years??????????????

There's no doubt that Holland picked out Ceci as a target above many others. Probably many other GMs did too.

Ceci was not going to sign for one year. He's a young D, and at his age many Dman haven't even seen their peak performance yet, and Ceci should not regress during this contract too. If we were looking at a Larsson replacement, we could have done worse. Ceci is big and skilled.

Here's why even though I wish the deal was shorter, I don't mind it too much: the nightmare scenario is that Ceci is an excellent bottom pairing guy. He's guaranteed to be a useful part of this team.

And of course he could just as easily exceed that, and be a great 2nd pairing guy like Larsson. And who knows?Maybe he will gel with Nurse and he will look good on the top pairing.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

There's no doubt that Holland picked out Ceci as a target above many others. Probably many other GMs did too.

Ceci was not going to sign for one year. He's a young D, and at his age many Dman haven't even seen their peak performance yet, and Ceci should not regress during this contract too. If we were looking at a Larsson replacement, we could have done worse. Ceci is big and skilled.

Here's why even though I wish the deal was shorter, I don't mind it too much: the nightmare scenario is that Ceci is an excellent bottom pairing guy. He's guaranteed to be a useful part of this team.

And of course he could just as easily exceed that, and be a great 2nd pairing guy like Larsson. And who knows?Maybe he will gel with Nurse and he will look good on the top pairing.

If it were up to me I would've just never done the Keith trade, kept Bear, and loaded up the left side with more physical types instead, I don't get the obsession that "there must be a physical RHD". I agree that we could've done worse in terms of actual player level b/c Ceci isn't that bad, but 4 years is just too damn much.

As for the top pairing thing, that's the copium kicking in. The story of Ceci's entire career has been play vs 1st line=get destroyed, play vs 2nd line=hold head above water, play vs bottom 6=does well, last year was no different and Ceci rarely facing top 6 forwards in Pittsburgh is a large reason why he did so well, and him being shoved into 1st line matchups in Toronto is a major factor for why he struggled. At best I'm expecting him to go into the Adam Larsson role where he plays mostly vs bottom 6 forwards and does decently defensively.

 

[Mr Positive]

If it were up to me I would've just never done the Keith trade, kept Bear, and loaded up the left side with more physical types instead, I don't get the obsession that "there must be a physical RHD". I agree that we could've done worse in terms of actual player level b/c Ceci isn't that bad, but 4 years is just too damn much.

As for the top pairing thing, that's the copium kicking in. The story of Ceci's entire career has been play vs 1st line=get destroyed, play vs 2nd line=hold head above water, play vs bottom 6=does well, last year was no different and Ceci rarely facing top 6 forwards in Pittsburgh is a large reason why he did so well, and him being shoved into 1st line matchups in Toronto is a major factor for why he struggled. At best I'm expecting him to go into the Adam Larsson role where he plays mostly vs bottom 6 forwards and does decently defensively.

I'm expecting that for him too.

But, we shouldn't base our expectations on him only on his track record. He might be still growing and developing.

Also, if we do use him in a defensive shut down role, most outsiders tell us that might be okay. His trouble seems to be bad pinches and reads. Maybe coaching can get him to play a simpler game.

 

[North]

There's no doubt that Holland picked out Ceci as a target above many others. Probably many other GMs did too.

Ceci was not going to sign for one year. He's a young D, and at his age many Dman haven't even seen their peak performance yet, and Ceci should not regress during this contract too. If we were looking at a Larsson replacement, we could have done worse. Ceci is big and skilled.

Here's why even though I wish the deal was shorter, I don't mind it too much: the nightmare scenario is that Ceci is an excellent bottom pairing guy. He's guaranteed to be a useful part of this team.

And of course he could just as easily exceed that, and be a great 2nd pairing guy like Larsson. And who knows?Maybe he will gel with Nurse and he will look good on the top pairing.

The term not ideal but the money is fine especially when you look at what Forbert, Hamonic, and a Poolman signed for.

 

[Trafalgar Sadge Law]

I'm expecting that for him too.

But, we shouldn't base our expectations on him only on his track record. He might be still growing and developing.

Also, if we do use him in a defensive shut down role, most outsiders tell us that might be okay. His trouble seems to be bad pinches and reads. Maybe coaching can get him to play a simpler game.

Yeah if anything is gonna do Ceci in it'll be offense (I'm sure everyone has seen that infamous Toronto missed shot), he tends to be fine defensively as long as you don't overwhelm him with 1st line opponents to my knowledge. The problem is our other 2 RHDs are Barrie/Bouchard who both need sheltering too, and the one guy we had who could match up vs those players was traded, so we might end up forcing Barrie into a lot of those situations again or use Ceci out of necessity, neither which is ideal.

 

[ottawah]

Ceci's offense may not be stellar, but it is not really as bad as people say.

7 years since he became a full timer, he is 57th in ESP (dmen) over that time period . That is first pairing production. 70th in overall points, 67th in goals. 41st in ESP last year. No Hughes, but then again no Brad Marsh either .....

Generally other than a bad year in Toronto he has been a low 20's point D man. If you line up year buy year, his point total for those years would have placed him 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 3rd, 6th and 3rd on the oilers. And not surprisingly, the bad years was when his QOC was the highest.

He's is not flashy offensively, but not a black hole. Good shot, good pinch instincts although the passing game is quite conservative, which also explains his low turnover numbers.

But for the upcoming year, unless Bouchard utterly falters the numbers will be on the low side. I just see no way around the fact Ceci is going to be asked what he was asked to do in Ottawa his last few years plus Toronto, and that is play the toughest minutes in the league where his (or anyone other D man in the league) offensive numbers will falter. On the plus side, Keith is far superior defensively (even now) to Claesson, Harper and Reilly, PK may be interesting though as Ceci had Muzzin in Toronto and Dumolin in Pitt as his partners, and they are pretty solid PKers.

 

[K1984]

He was just of a "before time" where his hits weren't dirty (see the hit in the 2006 playoffs against the Sharks) but once the league got scared into taking concussions somewhat seriously, his tendency to target the head made it really tough to ignore.

This is how I see it too.

He was a predatory hitter when it was within the bounds of the rules to do so. Honestly, he hit a lot like Mark Messier. High, hard, fast and with the intent of inflicting as much damage on the other player as possible. Neither player would make it beyond a year or two in the league without getting a 40+ game suspension by today's standards.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

This is how I see it too.

He was a predatory hitter when it was within the bounds of the rules to do so. Honestly, he hit a lot like Mark Messier. High, hard, fast and with the intent of inflicting as much damage on the other player as possible. Neither player would make it beyond a year or two in the league without getting a 40+ game suspension by today's standards.

Exactly, Scott Stevens made part of a HHOF career out of those kinds of hits and would be suspended for SO long in the NHL now and, sincerely, that's a good thing.

 

[Bank Shot]

If it were up to me I would've just never done the Keith trade, kept Bear, and loaded up the left side with more physical types instead, I don't get the obsession that "there must be a physical RHD". I agree that we could've done worse in terms of actual player level b/c Ceci isn't that bad, but 4 years is just too damn much.

As for the top pairing thing, that's the copium kicking in. The story of Ceci's entire career has been play vs 1st line=get destroyed, play vs 2nd line=hold head above water, play vs bottom 6=does well, last year was no different and Ceci rarely facing top 6 forwards in Pittsburgh is a large reason why he did so well, and him being shoved into 1st line matchups in Toronto is a major factor for why he struggled. At best I'm expecting him to go into the Adam Larsson role where he plays mostly vs bottom 6 forwards and does decently defensively.

He was right at the top of Toronto defenders in terms of good results defensively and he played against the other teams best. They hated him for offensive miscues.

 

[Broberg Speed]

I concur with the optimism but only if Ceci plays no more than 16-17 minutes a night. So much depends on the performance of Bouchard. If you got one player to pull for this season it should be Evan Bouchard.

 

[CanmoreMike]

I'm curious - does anyone remember what people here were saying about the Mark Fayne signing in 2014? I know he was a darling of the analytics community.

I'm probably just getting old here but I'm of the mindset that what's done is done and I'm curious to see what these players look like when the puck drops to start the season.

 

[KingKhron]

Jesus Christ. I completely misread your post.

I actually read it the way you did, for whatever reason.

 

[Forgot About Drai]

I'm curious - does anyone remember what people here were saying about the Mark Fayne signing in 2014? I know he was a darling of the analytics community.

I'm probably just getting old here but I'm of the mindset that what's done is done and I'm curious to see what these players look like when the puck drops to start the season.

Analytics in 2014 are light years behind what we have now.

 

[bone]

I'm curious - does anyone remember what people here were saying about the Mark Fayne signing in 2014? I know he was a darling of the analytics community.

I'm probably just getting old here but I'm of the mindset that what's done is done and I'm curious to see what these players look like when the puck drops to start the season.

Analytics loved him, but the cautious people warned that Andy Greene may have been driving his numbers. Appears to be the truth as Fayne never reached similar levels afterwards, meanwhile Greene broke in a young Larsson, then Severson after that.

 

[Gurglesons]

Not often Tom Wilson gets the wrong end of a shoulder to shoulder collision. If this is Ceci, on a nightly basis, fans are going to love him. No wonder Pittsburgh fans wanted him protected in the expansion draft and extended.

I’m not sure most of us wanted him extended..

He’s the type of player championship hopeful squads turn and burn. He was solid for us last year, but ultimately the wheels came off in the playoffs as many of us expected.