Cody Ceci didn’t necessarily have a bad season, but he did take a step back this season – especially in the playoffs where he finished a disappointing -5 as opposed to the +11 in the regular season – and surprising since he was +4 in last year’s playoffs. His point totals also went down from 28 to 15.
That’s not good but he does have proven chemistry with Darnell Nurse and the two of them work well together – not to mention he’s signed to a very reasonable $3.25 million for the next two seasons and the Oilers will be hard-pressed to find an upgrade at that same money.
If you want to read a piece on this topic from the advanced stats crowd you can read it here. There will be way too much of a bidding war for Damon Severson, so no thanks to that one. Demelo fits financially but he only has one more season left on his contract so those savings will probably evaporate quickly, not to mention he’s not as surefire a top pairing option as Ceci is. Scott Mayfield is an amusing option from that article, the guy is barely a second-pairing blueliner much less a top-pairing guy.
I actually wrote a blog on another option that might be the most realistic from a hockey perspective that will come out in the near future – Colton Parayko. You can read all about my thoughts on him when it comes out.
Something Holland may consider.