Former Penguins Defenseman Struggling in Postseason
Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Cody Ceci is having a difficult playoff run.
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins are watching the playoffs from home, but there are several former players still vying for the Stanley Cup. One of those players is defenseman Cody Ceci who spent just one season in Pittsburgh. He and the Edmonton Oilers are locked in a tight series with the Vancouver Canucks.
The problem for Ceci is that he is playing one of the worst stretches of hockey of his career. Playing in his third season in Edmonton, Ceci has been a standard of consistency. He’s played on every pairing, but has spent most of this season on the right side of Darnell Nurse. The regular season was a successful one for Ceci, who managed to put up over 20 points for the second time in three seasons with the Oilers.
This postseason has been far from a success for Ceci, however. He’s been largely ineffective and has been a detriment to his team at times. He’s been bumped to the bottom pairing most recently as a result.
Offensively, one of Ceci’s biggest issues is his inability to get pucks on net. The main way he contributes to the offense is with point shots and generating rebounds. In years past, he’s been excellent at getting his shots on net, with career average of 42% of his attempted shots winding up on goal.
This postseason, however, he’s well below that. Only 1/3 of his attempted shots have made it on goal, representing a 10% dip. It may not seem like much, but that handful of shots could be the difference between his team and the opposing one scoring.
Defensively, Ceci looks overmatched. Facing two extremely talented forward groups in the Los Angeles Kings and now Vancouver, it’s been evident when Ceci is defending his zone. He has trouble with the speedier forwards especially, as he has trouble turning his hips in transition, resulting in opposing forwards getting to the puck unobstructed.
The underlying numbers support this as well. On the surface, it doesn’t look great. Ceci is sporting a -8 rating, tied for the worst mark on the Oilers. Digging a little deeper, his corsi numbers are extremely discouraging. With a corsi for percentage of. 39.8%, it’s clear the Oilers are being vastly out-chanced when he is on the ice. This comes despite Ceci starting the least amount of his shifts in the defensive zone since 2019.
Put it all together, and Ceci is struggling big time. It’s not all on him, but being an important veteran comes with shouldering that blame. He needs to improve his play in his own zone and find a way to contribute anything offensively. Otherwise, he and the Oilers could be joining the Penguins in the offseason sooner rather than later.
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