Listen up Habs fan for the 100 time we traded to get rid of the 5 year boat anchor that was Zaitsev’s contract. Not that we wanted Ceci. Ceci was basically entitled to a slight raise and had arbitration rights so instead of doing that we paid him and it was basically a one year showcase to the TML and the NHL how good or bad he is.
He is terrible and now playing on our third pairing with Dermott who seems to save his bacon more times than not. He will be lucky to get much more than a million per next year. Holl has played better than him.
While we have no D signed long term we have the ability to try and sign Muzzin and Barrie now if we want to. I suspect that neither are signed but we do have some cap flexibility.
February 24: Darren Dreger says there are multiple teams with interest in Cody Ceci.
May 30: Bob McKenzie reports that Nikita Zaitsev has requested a trade, suggests that Toronto may need to take a soft return.
June 4th: Rick Dhaliwal reports that the Canucks have checked in on Zaitsev, who is getting a lot of interest around the league.
June 7th: David Pagnotta reports that there has been enough interest in Zaitsev that Toronto will not need to sweeten the pot in order for somebody to take Zaitsev.
June 13th: Darren Dreger reports that both Vancouver and Edmonton have shown interest in Zaitsev.
June 22nd: Kyle Dubas says that the Maple Leafs need a similar player back in exchange for Zaitsev.
Some time before June 24th: Ottawa has the opportunity not to tender a qualifying offer to Ceci, and be rid of his contract for free; instead they qualify him.
June 29th: Toronto and Ottawa make a tentative agreement on the Ceci/Zaitsev trade. Toronto adds Connor Brown to Zaitsev, adding roughly equal value to the package that they pay in exchange for Ceci, Harpur, Luchuk, and a 3rd.
July 4th: Toronto signs Ceci to a one year, $4.5M contract. More than his qualifying offer.
When reviewing this timeline, it is clear that Toronto viewed Ceci as a positive value asset who they paid positive value to acquire.