They're lucky more so than doing well. -3 goal differential on the season, only 2 ahead of the Leafs (-5).
Ceci is hot garbage and incidentally so are most of Phaneuf's metrics playing with him. How much of that is Phaneuf's fault is debatable, but the fact is that his as much of an albatross as it was when he was traded - especially for a team with an internal cap.
Who cares enough about Ottawa to sell this as a win-win? It was great trade for the Leafs, end of story. If the return had been literally nothing it still would have been fine.