Insider Says Oilers Could Shop $13 Million Defensemen

The Edmonton Oilers could put Cody Ceci on the trade block, according to NHL insider Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff.

The Oilers are currently over the salary cap, according to PuckPedia, and still need to sign RFAs Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. With Edmonton needing to create cap space, Seravalli believes Ceci could be on the trade block, as he’s entering the final year of the four-year $13 million deal he signed in 2021.

“I can tell you with 100 percent certainty there is a market for Cody Ceci. Right (shot) defencemen in that pay range are always in demand. Just go look at the pay range this summer and look at some of the money thrown around,” Seravalli said on OilersNow.

“Cody Ceci at that number is probably quite palatable. And, in fact, probably to some teams that are cap-strapped. There’s a break glass in case of emergency if Jeff Jackson and the Oilers want it. In the meantime, let’s see what develops,” Seravalli added.

Trading Ceci would allow Edmonton to sign Broberg who played a key role in the playoffs for the Oilers. As Seravalli says, there would be a market for Ceci who has just one year left on his deal and can be a third-pairing defenseman on any NHL team.

Ceci skated in 79 games recording 5 goals and 20 assists for 25 points while he played in 24 playoff games with 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points.

Ceci’s NHL career

Ceci was drafted 15th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2012 NHL draft.

Ceci made his NHL debut during the 2013-14 season and played for six years in Ottawa before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The defensemen played just one season in Toronto before signing a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. After one year with the Penguins, he signed with the Oilers where he has turned his career around.

Ceci has skated in 786 regular season games recording 48 goals and 163 assists for 211 points.

Oilers Active This Offseason

Edmonton has been active in free agency as the Oilers signed forward Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson.

“We’re very pleased to add both Viktor and Jeff to our top-six group. I think they’re complementary players to the guys we already have in those roles,” Jeff Jackson said on July 1…

“They’re good five-on-five players. They produce, they score goals and produce offense at five-on-five, so both of those guys are going to add a really nice element to our top six. We’re super happy and very pleased to get both of them and we look forward to next year with them in our group.”

The Oilers also brought back Connor Brown, Corey Perry, Adam Henrique, and Mattias Janmark, which Jackson was happy with.

“So to get a deal done with anybody, all of that stuff has to align and that’s sort of what happened today with all the guys that we were going to bring back like Brownie, Janny and [Perry]. Then the guys that we brought in, that they wanted those sorts of deals, so it worked out well,” Jackson added.

After making those signings, Edmonton did clear some cap space by trading Ryan McLeod to the Buffalo Sabres for top prospect Matthew Savoie.