B-Sens Profile: Cody Ceci

Ottawa Senators 1st round draft pick in 2012 has landed them 19-year-old defenseman Cody Ceci. He will be entering his 1st full season as a Binghamton Senator to launch his pro career. Ceci has a three-year entry-level contract as the Orleans, Ontario native arrives as a highly touted prospect with big offensive numbers to back him up.

Sep 24, 2013; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Ottawa Senators defenceman Cody Ceci (5) carries the puck against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at the Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Ceci played for the Ottawa 67’s for 3 1/2 years before being traded away in a rebuilding effort by the 67’s in 2012-’13. The Captain of the 67’s was dealt to the Owen Sound Attack in a four player swap. The defenseman rang up nearly a point per game (124 pts in 133 gms) in his last two seasons of the OHL. He continued his offensive prowess right into the playoffs for Owen Sound as Cody scored 1 goal and 9 assists in 12 games as the Attack lost in the Conference semi-finals to the Plymouth Whalers 4 games to 2. Ceci was named Second Team All-Star in both 2011-’12 and 2012-’13 seasons.

-Ceci has a cup of coffee in the AHL

The 6′ 2″ 203 lb played briefly for Binghamton in the final three games of the regular season in 2013, scoring a goal and adding an assist. He also played in three games in the playoffs with no points. While the strong skating, play-making D-man paired up with Sens Captain Mark Borowiecki, Cody also lead the pp with his accurate passes and deadly shots from the point. His ability to move the puck is spot on. Amazing actually. Although the knock on him is his defensive zone coverage and his lacking of the physical play. I only got a quick few games in of  him last season but this has appeared to be something he needs to work on this season in the AHL.

B-Sens Coach Luke Richardson‘s take on Ceci’s AHL debut. “I thought he looked really good, he really did a great job, he gets his shots through and that’s probably one of his best part of his game is in the offense zone and I thought defensively he was really good and I thought he moved his feet and he angled real well..he did great tonight.”

-How will he adjust in his first year as a pro?

As your organization’s #1 first round pick, the pressure will always be there for that player to show what he is capable of doing. All eyes are watching and waiting to see what makes him different than all the rest. Cody has that raw talent and you can tell the minute he touches the puck, he owns it. He is the youngest player on the team, and now in his new surroundings as well as new team mates, it might take a while for everything to get quite settled in. Especially this year, as there has been no camp in Bingo or pre-season games to benefit from. It will be exciting though, watching his development unfold in this upcoming season and I for one cannot wait for it to start.

Bottom line is the Binghamton Senators should win and win big as the team is loaded with all kinds of talent and Cody is no exception. Besides playing the majority of ice time with the more experienced Borowiecki, he’ll have the luxury of Richardson’s guidance. The goal would be for Cody to learn on what it takes to make his professional game a more complete one and how to apply that on the ice consistently. If he can pull it all together, then this will be one very exciting season for Ceci and the B-Sens.

(Thanks to fellow SenShot writer Derek Lee for his inspirational idea, I’m going to start to include in my player’s profile series the possible offensive potential output for the season including any recognition awards. Please feel free to include your own as well in the comments section below.)

2013-’14 AHL Projection Output: 18 goals, 46 assists  in 72 games

-AHL First Team All-Star selection

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Post game interview after his pro debut for the B-Sens April 19th, 2013.

Next up: Forward Derek Grant