August 19, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers announced that they traded Cody Ceci and a 2025 third round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Ty Emberson on Sunday evening.

🔁 TRADE 🔁

The #Oilers have acquired defenceman Ty Emberson from San Jose in exchange for defenceman Cody Ceci & a 2025 third-round draft pick.#LetsGoOilers

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) August 19, 2024

Ceci played 237 games for the Oilers over the past three seasons, and he collected 68 points as an Oiler. The fifteenth overall pick in the 2012 NHL draft has 211 points in 786 NHL games for the Oilers, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ceci scored two goals in Game 7s for the Oilers. His first was the 1-0 goal against the Los Angeles Kings in Game 7 of the first round in 2022. The other one came in Game 7 of the 2024 second round against the Vancouver Canucks. He also made a tremendous stretch pass to Mattias Janmark for the Oilers’ only goal in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Notably, he won the Hardest Shot competition during the Oilers’ Skills Competition in 2024; and his dog Hugo won the second edition of the Ruff Ruff Relay.

Ceci was asked to play above his head on the top pairing in his first season with the Oilers in 2021-22, and he did quite well alongside Darnell Nurse in that role. Ceci played with Nurse for the vast majority of the rest of his Oilers tenure. However, the effectiveness of the duo waned in the subsequent two seasons. Ceci went 127 games without scoring a goal between October 15, 2023 and February 13, 2024. They were relegated to second pairing duty after the arrival of Mattias Ekholm, and the pair treaded water in that role.

The playoffs were troublesome for Ceci. He and Nurse got outscored 11-20 in the last two playoff runs combined. That included a tragic series against the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round in 2023 where they got outscored 1-6 at five-on-five. Four of those six goals against came when they were matched up against the line of Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault, and Ivan Barbashev.

Ceci and Nurse were outscored 5-12 in the 2024 playoffs. Ceci was a healthy scratch in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. The performance of Nurse and Brett Kulak, the other prominent defence partner for Ceci in the 2024 playoffs, increased when they were away from Ceci.

If it wasn’t clear to the organization that Ceci and Nurse needed to be split up after the 2023 playoffs, then it should’ve been abundantly clear after the 2024 playoffs.

Ceci got a rough ride from Oilers fans, although it was merited in the last two playoff runs. As the 113th highest paid defenceman in the league last season, Ceci finished 58th among NHL defencemen in five-on-five ice time last season. He ranked 64th in five-on-five points (20), 109th in goals for percentage (51.8%), and 48th in expected goals for percentage (53.9%). He provided more value than what a lot of Oilers fans are willing to admit. That value makes it tough to see a third round pick needing to be attached to Ceci to move his contract, but the Oilers were in between a rock and a hard place due to the offer sheets signed by Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg.

Ceci’s departure clears $3 million in cap spending from the Oilers’ books for next season. He only had one year left on his contract, so this move does nothing to make life easier for the Oilers in 2025-26.

Related: The merit of moving Ceci or Kulak

Emberson was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the third round of the 2018 NHL draft. He played college hockey with the Wisconsin Badgers for three seasons after being drafted. Emberson was traded to the New York Rangers by the Coyotes for Patrik Nemeth, a 2025 second round pick, and a future pick in the summer of 2022. He played one season for the Hartford Wolfpack, the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, and put up 27 points in 69 games. Emberson was claimed off waivers by the Sharks on September 30, 2023. He got ten points in 30 games for the Sharks last season. Notably, he played zero AHL games last season.

The 24-year old averaged 17:15 per game at even strength last season, and 1:06 per game on the penalty kill. Ten points in 30 games is pretty good for a rookie defenceman, but his underlying numbers were predictably poor on a terrible Sharks team last season. His goal share was 44.4% at five-on-five (16-20). Interestingly, he fared the best against elite level competition (53.8%, 7-6) and the worst against low level competition (4-8, 33.3%) according to PuckIQ.

Heavy Hockey’s own Spencer Pomoty (@SPProspects) shared this information about Emberson:

Watching some film on Ty Emberson, but his defensive metrics are remarkable on a team that gave up a league high 4.04 GA a game. Film showing everything you like in a modern defensive D. Pinches down the wall on wingers, stands up to the offensive carrier ASAP, quick close outs. https://t.co/Hv7GZSMtWs pic.twitter.com/2PBEfUKcpE

— Spencer Pomoty (@SPProspects) August 19, 2024

It’s important to note that the right-handed defenceman had three different stints on the injured reserve last year with three different injuries, two lower body injuries and an upper body injury. He played his last game of last season on February 29, 2024.

Emberson’s contract carries a value of $950,000 for the upcoming season. Emberson will surely be in the mix for a roster spot with Troy Stecher and Josh Brown during training camp this fall. Their salaries all fall in a similar range, and it would be easy to bury any of the three in the minors. One of them will have to play in the Oilers’ top six this coming season.

The Oilers also acquired Vasily Podkolzin from the Vancouver Canucks for a 2025 fourth round pick on Sunday. These trades leave the Oilers at $87,054,167 without Holloway and Broberg. They would be at $93,925,541 with Holloway and Broberg with an active roster of 24 players. If Evander Kane goes onto LTIR as is expected, then the Oilers would merely need to shed $800,541, which would be easy to do by waiving one of Emberson, Stecher, or Brown. Matthew Savoie would need to be on the opening day roster, which is entirely doable if the Oilers were to waive Derek Ryan in his favour.

Related: Oilers acquire Podkolzin

The question everyone is wondering is about how Sunday’s trades will impact the Oilers’ decisions to match the offer sheets. If the Oilers were to keep only Holloway, then they would be able to get below the $88 million cap to activate Kane at some point during the season. If the Oilers were to keep only Broberg or both Holloway and Broberg, then they would need to make another trade to be able to activate Kane at any point throughout the season.

Related: Deep Dive: Oilers cap scenarios with Holloway and Broberg

I don’t think the Oilers would’ve traded Ceci if they weren’t trying to make room to keep Broberg though. Ceci was well liked in the dressing room. The players urged former general manager Ken Holland to not trade Ceci at last season’s trade deadline, and they got their wish. Now, Ceci has been sacrificed to make room for Broberg and his big new contract.

We’ll see what the coming days bring, but the Ceci move is definitely intriguing.