Matheson: Oilers trade Cody Ceci to Sharks, acquire Vasily ...

Cody Ceci loves to play the piano to relax in his downtime but his trade to the San Jose Sharks Sunday was likely a loud, sour note for the Edmonton Oilers’ right-shot defenceman.

Ceci and his $3.25 million cap hit for this season were sacrificed in a move to the NHL’s bottom-feeders, along with a third-round sweetener, for another cheaper, right D Ty Emberson.

That could allow the Oilers to match the $4.58 million AAV, two-year offer sheet from the St. Louis Blues on defenceman Philip Broberg and an earlier Vancouver trade for Vasily Podkolzin may spell the end of fellow winger Dylan Holloway here. The Blues also made a $2.29 million AAV two-year offer sheet on Holloway, 22, last Tuesday.

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The Oilers, who have until this Tuesday morning to match or walk away from the offer sheets, may now be finished with their fiscal wheeling and dealing. Emberson, 24, who remarkably played 30 games for the Sharks this past season after they got him on waivers, was only -4 on a solidly minus San Jose squad that leaked goals five-on-five, only makes $950,000 this season.

Now let’s do some math.

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With Emberson replacing Ceci on the depth chart, that’s a saving of $2.3 million this season. But if the Oilers match on Broberg’s $4.58 million, the difference is $2.28 million to the bad. Podkolzin, the 10th overall player taken in the 2019 draft, who picks after the Oilers took Broberg, only makes $1 million (AAV) in his two-year deal. If they walk away from Holloway’s $2.29 million AAV, then they’re ahead of the game by $1.29 million.

Should they put Evander Kane and his $5.1 million AAV on long-term injury status if he needs sports hernia surgery, then they’re fine going into the season. But if Kane comes back, in say, February, then they would be in trouble. His money would go back on the cap.

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A league source said Emberson, a shutdown type D, should be able to a 5-7 blueliner on a Cup contender. The former U of Wisconsin player who was originally drafted by Arizona, should challenge Troy Stecher and Josh Brown, both righties, to see who plays with Brett Kulak in the third pair.

The Edmonton Oilers traded defenceman Cody Ceci and a third-round draft pick in 2025 to the San Jose Sharks for defenceman Ty Emberson on Sunday. Emberson plays against the Vegas Golden Knights during an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Monday, Feb. 19, 2024. Photo by Jeff Chiu /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Emberson played for Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch in Hartford, Rangers AHL farm team so he was likely giving his scouting report. While the Oilers may decide not to match Holoway’s offer sheet there could be a way to keep he and Broberg if they were to send a $1m or thereabouts player like Podkolzin or Emberson or even Derek Ryan to minors after training camp to clear up cap space before the season starts.

Broberg, a natural left-shot defender, played right D alongside Darnell Nurse in the finals against Florida after sitting for the first two and half playoff series while Vinny Desharnais played. It’s expected Broberg, 23, will either play with Nurse again if the team matches the Blues offer Monday or early Tuesday or maybe they’ll shake things up and try Broberg with fellow Swede Mattias Ekholm with Evan Bouchard moving up with Nurse.

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Ceci, who signed a four-year free-agent deal with the Oilers after Adam Larsson left for Seattle, had one year left on his contract. He wasn’t popular with a large segment of the fan base here—every fan base picks on one player—but he was in deep with the leadership group here. He was excellent in Game 7 against Florida in the biggest Oiler game in 18 years, since the ‘06 final in Carolina. He played 18 ½ minutes in the Game 7 loss and set up Mattias Janmark with a perfect head-man pass for a breakaway goal.

Oilers defence coach Paul Coffey liked working with Ceci and couldn’t understand the venom from the fan base to the veteran but business is business in a harsh hockey world.

“I have all the time in the world for Cody Ceci. He trusts me. I trust him,” said Coffey, about a month ago. “You saw that pass (Janmark) in game 7 against Florida. He wouldn’t have made that play before but he had the confidence to do that in that game. Same with shooting the puck. You saw that in the Vancouver series.”

Vancouver Canucks’ Vasily Podkolzin breaks Winnipeg Jets’ Dylan DeMelo’s stick as they vie for the puck during the game, in Vancouver, Saturday, March 9, 2024. Photo by ETHAN CAIRNS /THE CANADIAN PRESS

Giving up a fourth-round draft pick in 2025 for Podkolzin, who was the best player in the 2018 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup here—the same tournament Broberg starred for Sweden—is virtually nothing. Podkolzin, a left-shot winger who has played right side, signing a two-year contract with the Canucks this summer.

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Podkolzin has had a spotty start to his NHL career. A league source says the Russian forward has lots of skill but, to this point, tends to over-think plays on the ice rather doing things on instinct. He’s no longer waiver exempt.

The winger has played 137 regular-season games but this past season he spent all but 19 games in the AHL in Abbotsford. He’s only had one full season (2021-2022) in the NHL (79 games, 14 goals, 26 points).

Podkolzin did play two Canucks’ playoff games against the Oilers last spring, but those were his only two (7:47 ice-time in one game, 9:16 in another). He had a couple of concussions the past two seasons—once in a fight against the Bruins, once after a dirty hit in a game against Colorado. He was a star as a junior but in Russia in the KHL he was a fourth-liner before coming to the Canucks. He was basically a bottom six winger in Vancouver, too, and couldn’t get enough traction with coach Rick Tocchet this past season.

He was a swing and a miss at the 2019 draft. They were also considering Minnesota winger Matt Boldy at No. 10 and opted for Podkolzin. He’s a strong  winger, with some flare to his game, but it didn’t work with Canucks. The free-agent additions of Keifer Sherwood and Danton Heinen as fourth-line wingers pushed Podkolzin to the outside, looking in for a likely regular roster spot in Vancouver.

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In some ways, this trade is akin to the Oilers trading for Blues’ winger Klim Kostin, also a sputtering first-round draft pick forward in 2022 (for Dmitry Samorukov). Kostin was a big body, too, looking for a change of scenery. He responded with 11 goals here but signed in Detroit in the summer of 2023 and was traded to San Jose where he’s now finding his way with the Sharks.

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