Sign me up in this thread to eat major crow. I really thought Ceci was the latest in a series of "I can take you away from all this" JR reclamation fantasies. I was especially annoyed when he ate into like 60% of our remaining little cap room, and it felt like there were still some late signing UFA bargains on the market.
Well, pass me that crow. He's been everything we ever wanted and more, for pennies on the dollar. I just saw he had 17 points, which is on pace to totally smash his best season's point totals. I doubt his agent would let him do it, but bring him back for 2 more years at 2.5-3 million and I will be very happy. Just avoid the Jultz trap of too many years, too much money.
I think if Ceci walks, you just kind of assume that one of Ruhwedel or Friedman (or Riikola if he survives the purges) can work there until a better option appears.
Yup, those guys are pretty much ideal bottom pair options if Ceci walks. Maybe Will Reilly gets a look in next year.
That said, I think Ceci probably knows what side his bread is buttered on. With a UFA offer this summer giving him a "future securing" kind of money, he will be happy to come back for another year or two here, have another great season or two, and hit the market in Summer 2023 as a 29 year old UFA, having truly become a bonafide comeback player in the eyes of the league.
But just a random thought: I wonder if Ronny Francis is looking at the Matheson-Ceci pair here and thinking he could pick Matheson in the expansion draft (despite his contract) then sign Ceci as a UFA to to get them both as a set. Getting a ready-made pair that understand each other like that is almost like a two-for-one, and could go a long way to giving Seattle a little more stability in depth next year. Albeit at a cost of probably at least 7M AAV on the second pair.