No they aren't. They get rid of 1 of 2 NHL rhds, and RETAIN.
Marner is not going to get 11.6.

don't you think Marner gets over 10.55M though? because if he was signing for that you'd think it'd be done by now. and before Ceci was on your team, all you Leafs fans were trashing him. Now that he's on your team, he's a NHL calibre dman?

Instead of retention, send back Matt Benning and Kyle Brodziak, and it should work. Benning is no worse defensively than Ceci, and Brodziak can be buried in the AHL.

Just because he is bad defensively doesn't take away the fact that he is NHL caliber. No one has ever said he isn't.

I'd like to have both. I'd say Ceci isn't that much better than Benning so there's no point of trading Benning for him since he's cheaper and younger. If it was Ceci and a 3rd rounder for Benning it'd make sense. Not sure if Ceci'll be a UFA after this contract but I know Benning will be RFA so that'll matter as well.

And Brodziak is practically retired. He's not playing the season due to back injury

This. Plus, anybody has only ever seen Ceci as part of the Ottawa organization. What if with a team, new system, he's actually not as bad as he looked in Ottawa? Something has to be said about this.

Going to have to see how the first 20-40 games go before everyone has truly made up their minds on Ceci.

No way leafs retain 2M. They would be better off to trade ceci and oilers 7th back for a 6th with no retention.

That's not how negotiations work. How many people here had Nylander in the 6.75M-7M range before the team and player agreed on the deal that was signed? None of this has been up to Marner, but rather his agent.

Unless his plan is to dump his agent before signing a deal and having to then find another agent afterwards, he's stuck in limbo until either side caves.

Benning is the weak spot on Edmonton's defense. Get rid of him already. He never should have been signed out of college and he shouldn't be in the NHL. I'd rather see one of the Swedish kids, Lageson and Persson play. Bouchard is not far off being a regular, who knows he might just come to camp and take a top four position, he's talented enough.
The nice thing with the Oilers now is that most of their players in the AHL are close to NHL ready and any of them could surprise.

I'd rather have Benning than Ceci, and Brodziak cannot be buried in the AHL, he has to go on LTIR. Which isn't an issue for Toronto.

Now look at goal differential.

Wow you are clueless. Actual NHL coaches have him tabbed to play top-4 this year and you think he shouldn't even be in the league? Do you seriously think you know more than NHL coaches?

Do you always follow what others tell you. I make my decisions on what I see not follow others opinions like a sheep. If so many coaches think he's so great why couldn't they trade him. Nobody wanted him this summer from what I heard. Every person/coach has been wrong before. If I'm right he has maybe one year left in Edmonton before he's surpassed by the younger defensemen.

Right. Totally. But his even strength points last year were better than Klefbom's, or any other EDM blueliner except Nurse.

Now factor in that Ottawa let in 40 more even strength goals last year than Edmonton, and Ceci played 7:30 more per night than Benning, with 6% tougher zone starts, and I think it's within the realm of possibility that they're not that different, defensively. Ceci also played twice as much penalty kill last year as Benning (2:29 per night vs 1:14) which could have left him a bit winded at evens, if they're in equally good shape?

If not Girardi, why not trade Benning for Ceci to add offense, and then sign another young, established NHL defenseman to replace Benning's marginal defensive ability? 26 year old Joe Morrow was on pace for 14 points last year and an even plus/minus. Frederik Claeson in 37 games was on pace for about 15 and +6? There are probably options around 1M who are almost as good as Benning, and only a little bit older.

Or you could trade a forward prospect for a Marcus Pettersson (unsigned RFA the Pens might not be able to afford around 2M, who got 19 even strength points last year to Benning's 16. Pitt probably doesn't mind if he holds out) or Christian Djoos (signed at 1.25. Was on pace for 18.... but finished the season with seven points in 18 games... on pace for 31, if he can keep that up this year--better than Ceci).

You can make all the excuses you want, but the fact is that Benning was +11 on a team that was -42 last year, is half the price of Ceci and is under team control when the season is over. They don't have similar value in a trade.

Edmonton didn't try to trade Benning this summer, so that's a whole lot of BS right there. And by the numbers Benning is a competent top-4 defender.

Clueless.

For reference, Ceci was -22 on a team that was -59.

Right. He was on the ice for more than a third of each game, all season, with only 45% offensive zone starts but he only caught about a third of the even strength goals against. He's a beast. Precisely my point.

It doesn't look good compared to Benning though.

Okay. Skip Ceci. Who needs minute eaters? You still need more puck movement to get the secondary scoring going, so.... Trade for Djoos. What's your offer.

Holland isn't interested in trading for a defenseman. Like, at all. He specifically said that the reason he bought out Sekera was to free up a roster spot for the young players just breaking into the league. He has 4 players - Persson, Jones, Bear and Lagesson - who are in their last year of waiver exemption (they can be sent down without having to clear waivers) and he wants to give each of them significant NHL time to find out what he has in them. So he has 5 NHL veterans: Klefbom, Nurse, Larsson, Benning and Russell, and the 6th spot will go to a rookie on a rotating basis. At the end of the year he'll have plenty if information about who to re-sign (all 4 + Benning are RFA's next summer) and who to trade.

I imagine Bouchard (and possibly Samorukov) also gets some NHL time, but he has 3 years left on his ELC so it isn't as critical to get him at-bats.