NHL Insider: Oilers dealing to sign $13 Million Defenseman.

According to NHL source Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff, the Edmonton Oilers are considering trading Cody Ceci.

According to PuckPedia, the Oilers are presently over the salary cap and have yet to sign RFAs Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. With Edmonton in need of budget space, Seravalli feels Ceci might be traded, as he enters the final year of his four-year $13 million contract inked in 2021.

“I can tell you with 100 percent certainty there is a market for Cody Ceci. Right (shot) defencemen in that pay range are always in demand. Just go look at the pay range this summer and look at some of the money thrown around,” Seravalli said on OilersNow.

“Cody Ceci at that price is certainly fairly acceptable. Indeed, some cap-strapped teams are likely to benefit. In the event of an emergency, Jeff Jackson and the Oilers can use the broken glass. In the meanwhile, let’s see what happens,” Seravalli said.

Trading Ceci would allow Edmonton to sign Broberg, who played a significant role in the Oilers’ playoff run. As Seravalli points out, there is a market for Ceci, who has one year left on his contract and can play third-pairing defense on any NHL team.

Ceci skated in 79 games recording 5 goals and 20 assists for 25 points while he played in 24 playoff games with 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points.

Ceci was drafted 15th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2012 NHL draft.

Ceci made his NHL debut during the 2013-14 season and played for six years in Ottawa before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The defender spent only one season in Toronto before accepting a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. After a year with the Penguins, he signed with the Oilers, where he has transformed his career.

Ceci has played in 786 regular-season games, scoring 48 goals and 163 assists for 211 points.

Edmonton has been active in free agency as the Oilers signed forward Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson.

“We’re very pleased to add both Viktor and Jeff to our top-six group. I think they’re complementary players to the guys we already have in those roles,” Jeff Jackson said on July 1.

“They’re good five-on-five players. They produce, they score goals and produce offense at five-on-five, so both of those guys are going to add a really nice element to our top six. We’re super happy and very pleased to get both of them and we look forward to next year with them in our group.”

The Oilers also re-signed Connor Brown, Corey Perry, Adam Henrique, and Mattias Janmark, which pleased Jackson.

“So, in order to do a deal with somebody, all of that stuff needs to come together, and that’s exactly what occurred today with all of the people we were going to bring back, such as Brownie, Janny, and [Perry]. Then the folks we brought in wanted those types of terms, so it worked out great,” Jackson explained.

Following those agreements, Edmonton freed up cap space by moving Ryan McLeod to the Buffalo Sabres for top prospect Matthew Savoie.