Edmonton Oilers
Oilers Traded Cody Ceci For Offer Sheet and Trade Leverage
The Edmonton Oilers choice to trade Cody Ceci was odd given they didn’t match offer sheets from St. Louis. But, there was a good reason.
The Edmonton Oilers’ recent trade of defenseman Cody Ceci first appeared to be a way of gaining cap space to match offer sheets from the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. But, when neither offer sheet was matched for Philip Broberg or Dylan Holloway, the Ceci trade became a bit of a headscratcher. It wasn’t until a subsequent trade between the Oilers and Blues that came with the declined offer sheet announcement that the pieces started to fit.
Related: Oilers Decline Offer Sheets for Holloway, Broberg, Make Trade Instead
The Oilers squeezed out defenseman Paul Fischer and a third-round pick in 2028 for future considerations. There was no explanation as to why the Blues did this deal, but the assumption was that Edmonton and St. Louis worked behind the scenes before the Oilers’ decision and came up with a way to sweeten the pot. Essentially, if the Oilers weren’t going to match, they needed more incentive.
But, why did St. Louis agree to this? After all, one of the reasons they made the offers in the first place was because the Oilers were in a terrible salary cap position to match.
Hence the Ceci trade.
Oilers Needed Leverage to Squeeze the Blues
According to reports, the Oilers used the additional cap space created by trading Ceci to put pressure on the Blues, ultimately squeezing another draft pick and a prospect out of the deal.
Ceci’s departure freed up valuable cap space, which allowed the Oilers to create the impression that they might match the offer sheets for Broberg and Holloway. Ryan Rishaug of TSN notes that behind the scenes, it’s likely the Oilers and Blues engaged in negotiations to reach a more equitable agreement than what the standard CBA compensation would dictate. By trading Ceci, Edmonton was able to bluff effectively, threatening to match the offer sheets if St. Louis didn’t sweeten the deal. This strategy appears to have worked.
The Oilers are still a weaker team today than they were yesterday, but in three days, they added Vasily Podkolzin, Ty Emberson, and Paul Fischer. Podkolzin is in need of a fresh start, Emberson could be a No. 6 defenseman on the roster and Fischer was the No. 138 pick last year. TSN’s Craig Button had him inside the top 100 of his rankings.
The Ceci trade — which also gives the Oilers more room to make a trade during the season or at the trade deadline — was crucial to making this bluff credible. Without the cap space freed up by trading him, Edmonton’s play to get more might not have worked.
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