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The Toronto Maple Leafs Won’t Trade Cody Ceci This Season

By Nick Barden

TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 7: Cody Ceci #83 of the Toronto Maple Leafs chats with teammate Jason Spezza #19 during warm-up prior to action against the St. Louis Blues in an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on October 7, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blues defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 7: Cody Ceci #83 of the Toronto Maple Leafs chats with teammate Jason Spezza #19 during warm-up prior to action against the St. Louis Blues in an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on October 7, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blues defeated the Maple Leafs 3-2. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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There’s plenty of house cleaning items on the agenda for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but trading Cody Ceci isn’t one of them.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs were to look at trading Cody Ceci, what would they get in return and, what would be the point?

While Ceci hasn’t been as bad as he’s been in previous years, he’s still having a rough start to the season.

He has racked up three points in six games, but I’m more worried about Ceci, the defenseman.

Getting to play with Morgan Rielly is definitely a stepping stone for Ceci. In Ottawa, he never had a partner of the caliber as Rielly.

There’s no doubt that last years Norris trophy candidate is having a rough start to the season defensively. Yet, Ceci is there and he’s helping bit-by-bit.

In six games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the right-shot defenseman has a 55.4% corsi for rating, according to Hockey Reference.

That’s pretty good for a defenseman who’s been falling down the ranks pretty quickly in the NHL.

Why the Toronto Maple Leafs won’t trade him:

I don’t think any team is interested in taking on Ceci for the back half of the season, unless he’s been playing very well.

Why would the Toronto Maple Leafs trade him then?

It’s all about Kyle Dubas and Mike Babcock seeing more in Ceci. They believe there’s more tools that they can unlock to turn him into a better defenseman, which is possible.

There’s definitely a chance that if Babcock and Dubas like what they see out of Ceci this year, that maybe, they could re-sign him to a cheaper deal, but again, that’s if they find what they’re looking for.

The likely-hood of them taking the whole season to do the experiment is very high.

It’s similar to when Dubas told William Nylander that he wouldn’t get traded. It’s likely there was a similar situation when Ceci signed with Toronto.

Ceci isn’t playing to the point where they need to look at trading him soon. Rielly has even said that he enjoys playing with Ceci. He works hard to be able to play with him.

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It’s only six games in, these two have lots of time to gel, get to know each other and play good hockey together, it will take time.

And when the time comes, Ceci will still be here and he will likely be here for the rest of the season. Get ready, it may get a little bumpy, but try to enjoy it in the process.

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