The Edmonton Oilers are in an interesting salary cap bind.
A few days ago, they traded Ryan McLeod to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Matthew Savoie, clearing out cap space for a prospect with a high ceiling. Still, the team is $354,000 over the upper limit and will need to sign restricted free agents Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway to new contracts.
One way they could do this is by placing Evander Kane on the Long-Term Injured Reserve to start the season, but they could also trade him and his $5.125 million cap hit. That may prove challenging though, as he has a full no-move clause and the decline in play is worrisome.
Another player the Oilers may look to move to clear cap room is Cody Ceci and his $3.25 million cap hit. In fact, there is a market for the right-shot defenceman according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, who spoke about the situation earlier this week with Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now. Seravalli also noted that the Oilers see moving Ceci as a “break glass in case of an emergency” move.
The Oilers had been linked to numerous right-shot defencemen to play alongside Darnell Nurse at the most recent trade deadline, including Chris Tanev and Sean Walker, but the Oilers elected to keep Ceci. They were rewarded with a few key plays, such as a beautiful assist from a stretch pass on Mattias Janmark’s Game 7 goal, as well as a Game 7 goal from Ceci himself in Round 2.
Throughout his career, Ceci has played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League, scoring 48 goals and 211 points in 786 games. Last season with the Oilers, he scored five goals and 25 points in 79 games, three points shy of matching his point total from his 2021-22 campaign. Moreover, the 2024 postseason season saw him score two goals and five points, the former being a career-high.
Ceci isn’t a perfect player by any means. Besides Nurse on the second pairing, those two players can struggle at times to get the puck out of their own end. This past postseason, the Oilers allowed 12 goals and scored five of their own during 170:13 minutes of five-on-five play for a 29.41% goal share. Without Ceci and Nurse on the ice, the Oilers outscored teams 31 to 20.
Overall, right-shot defencemen are hard to come by, and even with his flaws, Ceci is a good third-pair defenceman who can play on the second pairing. Time will tell if the Oilers feel they need to move Ceci, but at some point, a transaction will need to be made.
