Things have not been going well for former Edmonton Oilers defenceman Cody Ceci in his first season with the San Jose Sharks.
After spending the last three seasons with the Oilers, the 30-year-old Ceci was traded to the Sharks over the summer in a deal that saw young defenceman Ty Emberson come to Edmonton. The deal was made primarily due to cap restraints, as it removed Ceci’s $3.25 million cap hit for Edmonton.
He struggled while playing on the Oilers’ second pair with Darnell Nurse last season and even wound up as a healthy scratch in the Stanley Cup Final. A new start in San Jose has not improved his situation, as he is now posting some of the worst defensive numbers in the entire NHL just two months into the new season.
Cody Ceci has been putting up some of the worst defensive numbers in the entire NHL throughout his first two months in San Jose.
According to NST, Ceci is ranked dead last in chances-against with 514 and high-danger chances-against at 104.
All the while rocking a 39.24 xGF%
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) November 27, 2024
According to Natural Stat Trick, Ceci already leads the league in both five-on-five chances-against (CA) with 514 and high-danger chances-against (HDCA) at 104. He’s doing this all while posting a brutal 39.24 xGF% as he is being used in a top pairing role with San Jose.
While Ceci was not great with the Oilers last season, this is a new low for the veteran defender. In contrast, throughout all 79 games he played in Edmonton last year, Ceci was able to post a positive chances-for percentage (CF%) of 51%. Right now, that same statistic is at 42.12% and, like his other metrics, is near the bottom of the league.
The fact that Ceci has seen his stats tank while going from a cup-contending Oilers squad to a lottery San Jose team is not surprising in the slightest; it’s how badly and how quickly things have gone off the rails.
It also highlights the fact that Ceci is no longer the legitimate top-four defenceman he was when he initially arrived in Edmonton in 2021. His play tailed off significantly over the last two years with the Oilers while he played second-pair minutes, and things have tanked in San Jose when he was given more responsibility.
There has been some talk about the Oilers potentially targeting Ceci in a trade to bring him back, but if he’s a third-pairing defender now, he won’t do much to resolve the issues on the second pair.
Stan Bowman and company would be better off leaving the past in the past.