Cody Ceci
By Mark Vanderlugt
Age: 25
Role: On Ottawa last year, he was one of their most used defenseman. I think it’s fair to call him a potential top pairing defenseman.
Last season: Ceci scored seven goals and 19 points, while posting a terrible 44% CF. Take that with a grain of salt, because of how bad the Senators were, but keep in mind that good players do occaisainly perfrom well on bad teams (Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone).
Taking a look at what exactly Cody Ceci is, is next to impossible.
One might say you could find yourself becoming the next Riddler, with the amount of questions that are asked about Ceci. Is he terrible? Is he the result of bad teammates? Is he the result of being forced to play a role that did not match his style at all? Why did Leafs management trade for him and appear to be keeping him for the season? Do they see something in him that we don’t? Let’s take a further look, shall we?
Expectations: Some have him penciled into the Leafs top four already, while other consider him to be a terrible player.
Whether Cody Ceci is on the top pair, second pair, or even the third pair, Ceci’s tenure may only last this season. His cap hit of 4.5 million for this season, may be a little too rich for the Leafs to re-sign next summer. He has the tools of an effective everyday NHLer, but his mental game raises a lot of red flags- he’s a turn-over machine and has coverage issues.
What makes those questions and nightmares all go away is that Toronto will be the best team he has played for in his NHL career. Toronto will be able to keep him in a protected role and will be able to reconstruct his game from ground zero, if they want to.
What he needs to meet those expectations: Taking a look at Ceci’s stats is very upsetting, but I am here to say it isn’t as bad as you think it could be. The last time Ceci was in a protected, top 4 role was in 2015-16, and he wasn’t nearly as bad as he was last year.
With Toronto, he might still be used heavily in the defensive zone, but these will be the best players he’s ever had in his career- Matthews, Marner, Nylander, JT, Rielly. Now you throw in the fact that Frederik Andersen will be the best goalie he will be playing in front, Ceci could turn into a salvageable asset after all.
All he has to do with the Toronto Maple Leafs is simply walk over this bar of expectations. Then again, he might not even make the team. Training camp will be extremely interesting.
Be sure to check out Mark’s other posts on Editor in Leaf.