Are there any free agent defencemen who would be an upgrade on Cody Ceci?.

The Edmonton Oilers need to deal with a few key free agents in the offseason. With $5.97 million in cap space, Holland needs to be creative to fit everyone he wants under the cap ceiling. Evan Bouchard, Klim Kostin and Ryan McLeod are all restricted free agents (RFA) that need new contracts. On the unrestricted free agent (UFA) side of things they have Derek Ryan, Mattias Janmark, Devin Shore and Nick Bjugstad requiring new deals to remain with the team.

Kailer Yamamoto and Cody Ceci could be considered trade bait to dump salary and regain picks in a deep 2023 NHL Entry Draft. Combined Yamamoto and Ceci cost the Oilers $6.325 million in cap space. They have $5.97 million in space right now, giving Holland just over $12 million to work with if Yamamoto and Ceci are moved.

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If we assume that Bouchard signs a bridge deal similar to Noah Dobson's three year $4M contract, that would give the Oilers around $8 million to sign the rest of their RFA's and UFA's plus bring in a blue liner to replace Ceci. Here are some free agent options the Oilers could consider to upgrade their defence.

Damon Severson

Reason to Target: Second Unit powerplay & Even Strength Scoring.

Damon Severson is a productive middle pairing defenceman. Over the course of his nine year NHL career he's scored 30 or more points five times. His 2022-23 season performance was the most recent, with 32 points in 81 games.

Averaging 19:57 time on ice (TOI) this past season, and 21:11 TOI over his entire career Severson has demonstrated his ability to handle 2nd pairing minutes consistently. His projected $6.1M contract would be the biggest hurdle to him signing with the Oilers.

Radko Gudas

Reason to Target: Physicality & Ability to play well with offensive defencemen.

Radko Gudas brings a lot of different dimensions to a team. While being known for his open ice hits, he plays very well with offensively minded defencemen. Having spent the majority of his ice time with Gustav Forsling, this current Florida Panthers rear guard knows how to cover any defensive mistakes his offensively minded partner makes. 

Frank Seravalli's top 50 free agents ranking has Gudas' next contract projected to be worth $3.3M for three years. That's only a few thousand dollars more than Ceci presently makes. If Gudas is looking to move on from the Panthers, the Oilers should come knocking.

Scott Mayfield

Reason to Target: Strong shut down play against top competition

Scott Mayfield has been one part of the shut down pairing for the New York Islanders. The 6-foot-5 220 pound defender averaged 21:02 TOI during this past season. He had a 50.5 goals for percentage (GF%). That means the Islanders scored a few more goals than they allowed with Mayfield on the ice. His Corsi for percentage (CF%) wasn't as impressive at 48.9%. Mayfield faced the second toughest minutes on the team behind Adam Pelech.

Comparatively, Ceci had a 50% CF% and a 48.6 GF%. Mayfield's contract projection looks to land around $3.75M for three years. At first blush, Mayfield doesn't look to be an improvement on Ceci, and is not worth the extra cap space. 

The Oilers may be better off just keeping Ceci as these targets may not be exactly what they are looking for. They could still pursue any of these three if they wanted the blue line to look different than it has the past few years. But is a different blue line a better blue line? In some cases, yes. In this one? Maybe not.

Let me know which of these targets you think would be an upgrade on Ceci in the comments below!