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Ottawa Senators sign Cody Ceci to two-year, $5.6M contract

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 02: Cody Ceci #5 of the Ottawa Senators skates against the Philadelphia Flyers on April 2, 2016 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Ottawa Senators and restricted free agent defenseman Cody Ceci have agreed to a two-year contract worth $5.6 million.

The deal will pay Ceci $2.25 million in 2016-17 and $3.35M in 2017-18 but carries a salary cap hit of $2.8 million per-year. He is coming off his three-year entry-level deal.

The 22-year-old Ceci established career highs last season with 10 goals and 26 points along with a plus-9 rating in 19:18 of play. The Senators used the 15th overall pick in the 2012 draft on the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Ceci. He also took part in the 2016 World Championships with Team Canada.

Ceci held a 43.6 score, venue and zone adjusted 5-on-5 CF% and a minus-4.67 score, venue and zone adjusted 5-on-5 CF% Rel.

The Ottawa Sun said general manager Pierre Dorion and Ceci’s camp were exploring a bridge deal or a long-term contract. Eventually the two agreed to the bridge deal.

Dorion said the club has looked at several options for Ceci. It’s believed on a six-year deal Ceci’s camp wants something in the $4 million per-season range while the belief amongst league executives is a two-year contract would be in the neighborhood of $2.8-to-$3 million per-season.

The Hockey Writers pointed out that Ceci showed progress after the team dealt for defenseman Dion Phaneuf and paired the veteran with Ceci. In the 28 games after the trade, Ceci had 10 of his 26 points. The two-year, $5.1 million contract signed by Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba was considered a comparable for Ceci.

However, going long-term on a player that has only played 211 NHL games has its risks, mainly that his game may drop off and he doesn’t develop into the defencemen the Senators hope we would. On the other hand, if Ceci breaks out during the short bridge contract and is that kind of player many saw in junior, it could cost the Senators a lot more to sign him to a long-term deal. Looking at comparable contracts around the NHL, it seems more likely that management will want to a sign a short bridge deal in an effort to see how Ceci improves his game in a full NHL season, or two alongside a stable defence partner. An example is fellow 2012 first round pick Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild who had the same point total as Ceci last season. The Wild signed Dumba to a short bridge deal for two years at an AAV of $2.55 million.

Ceci was the last major NHL restricted free agent for the team to sign this summer. The team now has $6,060,834 million of salary cap space heading into 2016-17.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!