100% certainty Edmonton Oilers can move out veteran d-man, NHL insider says. But should they?

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This in from NHL insider Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff, talking to Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now about the how Edmonton might solve it’s salary cap crunch.

Edmonton is still slightly over the NHL’s $88 million hard salary cap, with restricted free agents Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg yet to sign.

These facts saw Seravalli and Stauffer exploring what might happen with the savvy veteran Ceci, 30, in the last year of his $3.2 million per year deal.

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Here’s what Seravalli said: “I can tell you with 100 per cent 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. Cody Ceci at that number is probably quite palatable. And, in fact, probably to some teams that are cap strapped, interesting. 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.”

My take

1. First off, it’s impressive that Seravalli and Stauffer are still hard at work on July 6 when most other NHL insiders are at the cottage. In fact, both Seravalli and Stauffer will be working through the summer, just like the Cult of Hockey I might add. We’re the grinders of the NHL, never taking a day off.

2. Seravalli competes with a handful of others to be the NHL’s top insider, which is all the more impressive because so far as I know Seravalli isn’t an employee of an NHL broadcast partner. He runs his own show at The Daily Faceoff and has no business ties to the NHL. He’s a true independent voice and he’s a big part of a start-up business.

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3. Ceci is one of the most under-rated players on the Oilers. How so? He is a smart positional defender, who rarely gets beat due to mental errors.

He and Darnell Nurse got off to a solid start to 2023-24 season, playing against tough competition and holding their own. Much of the negativity in some parts of Oilers fandom in regards to Ceci comes from his play after the All-Star break, when he and Nurse came unglued as a defensive pairing.

In the 2024 playoffs, for example, Nurse and Ceci were on the ice six goals for and 14 goals against at even strength, with both players making far too many mistakes on Grade A shots. But in that same time period, when Ceci wasn’t paired up with Nurse, he played solid hockey.

4. In the regular season after the All-Star break, as the Nurse-Ceci pairing started to leak Grade A shots and goals against, Ceci was +13 goals, -11 goals against at even strength. In the playoffs without Nurse, he was +8 goals, -7 goals against. The Oilers were not getting caved in when Ceci was on the ice without Nurse. They held their own. Intriguing, no?

5. Ceci was one of the few Oilers to raise his level of play in the playoffs compared to the regular season. Part of this was because he was only OK during the regular season. But he built on that, especially when paired with Brett Kulak. Ceci made solid contributions to a team that came within one game of winning the Stanley Cup. He was last seen springing Mattias Janmark for a breakaway goal in Game 7.

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6. I’ve always liked Ceci’s game, and part of me thinks he can still help the Oilers win now. But another part of me just saw Oilers hockey boss Jeff Jackson trade away Ryan McLeod for a top prospect like Matthew Savoie. It makes me wonder what he can get moving out Ceci.

If Ceci does go, however, Edmonton will be counting on players like Troy Stecher, Josh Brown, Connor Carrick, Ben Gleason and Phil Kemp to take over at right defence. Is that wise? I’m uncertain.

I have to say that keeping Carrick over Ceci or any of the others on the big team is an interesting idea. He’s an NHL/AHL tweener, but he’s now become an strong puckmover at the AHL level. The thought of Edmonton with six d-men with strong puck-moving capabilities is intriguing. Carrick hasn’t played much in the NHL recently, but he’s played 242 regular season games in his career.

7. Seravalli raised the nasty idea of another team giving an offer sheet to Philip Broberg. If that were to happen, and Edmonton decided to match, the team would have Broberg signed up long-term but at a major cap hit, and Ceci would have to be moved, few questions asked.

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8. Seravalli also questioned whether Evander Kane was going to be able to recover from his injuries and play for the Oilers in 2023-24. “It’s a real long shot for Kane to be healthy. Maybe the idea of rest and recuperation and not going the surgery route — if that’s what they decide to do — ends up paying dividends. Cause I think some of these guys are so quick to go under the knife and they have complicated surgeries that end up spiralling in terms of just trying to get back to the level they were at previously. It’s more hurtful than beneficial.”

But Seravalli said he thinks it’s a long way back for Kane, which could bring Long Term Injury Reserve into play. “LTIR, of course, is one option. I think the Oilers want to know and see more before they make any decision drastic decisions.”

9. Kane appeared to be itching to play in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. At the same time, he was clearly playing with a broken body at that time. His health is critical to the Oilers, as he’s got a skillset few other NHLers match, ferocious intimidation combined with skill and guts.

At the Cult of Hockey

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