Ottawa Senators Need to Sign Cody Ceci to Long Term Deal

It has been a relatively quiet offseason for the Ottawa Senators compared to other teams in the league. Long periods of inactivity have been interrupted by pretty significant transactions, though.

Beyond the two-way depth signings, they reunited with Chris Kelly and deftly avoided arbitration with Mike Hoffman by inking him to a long term contract.

The drama with the Hoffman negotiations was somewhat pronounced, but mainly due more to the sluggishness with how the two sides seemed to move towards a deal.

Arbitration hearings have a way of catalyzing discussions, though, and it’s truly all’s well that ends well in that regard.

Hoffman is poised to break into that mid-to-high 30s goal scoring range, and the Senators can feel secure that he’s going to be in the lineup for the foreseeable future.

The Mika Zibanejad for Derick Brassard trade was shocking at the time, but after having some time to digest the aftermath, it makes a lot of sense.

Brassard is a definite short term upgrade who’s about to be a better bargain after Zibanejad hits restricted free agency next offseason.

All in all, Pierre Dorion can consider this a successful offseason if he can re-sign Cody Ceci before the regular season starts.

It appears likely that Ceci’s going to return to the Senators, if Dorion’s assurances of that hold any weight.

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The real question is what the contract is going to look like. Ceci was originally asking for 5-6 years, but the Senators’ front office is pushing more of a bridge deal for 2 years.

I think the front office made the right choice regarding Hoffman, because judging from Hoffman’s talent, it would have been even riskier to leave the team vulnerable to losing a fantastic sniper just as he was making that leap to the next echelon.

Ceci has improved each season he has been in the league, and if he comes to the end of a bridge deal playing the best hockey of his career, it’s going to cost the Senators more in the long run to keep him.

Of course, that’s assuming they view him in their long term plans at that point, but if he’s playing even better than he is right now, why wouldn’t they?

It would be a shame if they had to lose him because they couldn’t afford him at that point, and they’d look back on this offseason and admit that they should have had more faith in him.

Also, a full season of playing alongside Dion Phaneuf will only help Ceci. There wasn’t that type of stability for Ceci before Phaneuf was acquired last season, and with Phaneuf signed through 2020-2021, that could be a solid long term defensive duo.

I’m hoping that Ceci gets signed long term, because he’s on an upward trajectory. The Senators would lose economic flexibility if they have to negotiate a new deal with him in a couple seasons and he has gotten better.

What it really comes down to is whether you think there’s a better chance that Ceci improves in 2 seasons, or regresses/stays the same.

The empirical evidence says he’s going to get better, and the security of Phaneuf only makes that hypothesis more sturdy.

If Ceci keeps improving, his price tag is only going to go up. It’s economically prudent for the Senators to make that long term investment in him now.

Next: Ottawa Senators Have Promising Defenseman in Chris Wideman

They took the leap with Hoffman, and it’ll be interesting to see if they have the same type of faith in Ceci.

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