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Ottawa Senators Need to Realize that Ceci Isn’t Unreasonable

By Ian Smith

Mar 15, 2016; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Ottawa Senators defenseman Cody Ceci (5) wears the St-Patrick jersey during warm-up prior to game against the Minnesota Wild at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2016; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Ottawa Senators defenseman Cody Ceci (5) wears the St-Patrick jersey during warm-up prior to game against the Minnesota Wild at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports /
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The value of a professional athlete is always fluid. There is no concrete benchmark to definitively quantify what a certain player is worth.

The free market allows for constant interpretation of how much certain talents are worth. What $1 million can get you nowadays is different than what it could buy in 1996 from a roster building perspective.

Contracts are based on precedent, and if a general manager clings to outdated beliefs of what certain monetary figures mean, he’ll be left behind as he loses out on talent to other clubs.

Ken Warren of the Ottawa Sun has a great article about the Cody Ceci contract dispute. Ceci is holding out presumably for a long term deal that the Ottawa Senators are hesitant to give him.

The article lays out some of the recent contacts that comparable players to Ceci have gotten from other teams.

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For example, Seth Jones just got a $32.4 million contract for 6 years. Jones has played 3 NHL seasons and increased his point totals from 25, to 27, to 31.

Olli Maatta signed with the Penguins for $24.5 million for 6 years. He has been plagued with injuries, but is coming off a season in which he scored 19 points in 67 games.

Adam Larsson has never topped 24 points in a season, and yet he is playing on a 6 year, $25 million contract.

Oscar Klefbom has 35 points in 107 career NHL games. That production is good enough to secure a $29.3 million contract for 7 years.

Contracts in this league are based on precedent. Ceci clearly deserves at least somewhere in the neighborhood of $24-26 million for 6 season based on what he has shown in the NHL.

The counterargument is that it isn’t wise to overpay just because other people are overpaying. However, it’s important to constantly adjust exactly what a certain amount of money means.

According to those contracts, $4-5 million per season is the going rate for youthful defenseman who score 25-35 points per year and have room to improve.

Even if Ceci stays at a constant production level and doesn’t improve, the market has dictated that he is worth the type of contract that he’s likely holding out for.

The Senators may not like it, but that’s the price of building a roster with talented players. Especially as the salary cap rises, dollar figures are going to be in a constant adjustment in regards to what a talent level is worth.

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Ceci isn’t asking for a lot. He’s only asking to be payed what executives around the league have deemed a player of his talent and production worth.

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