Cody Ceci Autographed Card

Fresh from having bought their way out Jack Johnson's contract, the Pittsburgh Penguins signed an equally defensively-minded rearguard, Cody Ceci, to a one-year deal worth $1.25M, a more than $3M paycut for the former Ottawa Senators first-round draft pick.

At his best, the 26-year-old defenseman is a second-pair defender who can be counted on for 5 to 10 goals and 20 to 25 points in a given season, who plays decently well against the bottom of a lineup in his own zone, using his 6'2" frame and 210 pounds to clear the net and knock the puck around without amassing too many penalty minutes.

Other times, he can be seen as a liability in all three zones, as Toronto Maple Leafs fans will likely attest.

There is ample time for redemption, but the Pens are likely the worst possible team for him to try to find it, because their best defendeman, Kris Letang, also plays on the right side, is often injured, and will turn 34 sometime this season, with a lot of mileage on his body. John Marino is his heir apparent, which Pittsburgh management probably hopes relegates Ceci to his recent comfort zone as a depth insurance policy.

At this point, I will not hold my breath to see him develop into the next Jay Bouwmeester, but if he can fulfill the shut-down role this season and keep putting up good penalty-kill numbers, maybe he can evolve into a Ron Hainsey-veteran type who will never be out of work and will always earn his paycheque, which is a lot better than his detractors make him out to be.

Here he is wearing the Sens' red (home) uniform on the Rainbow Foil variant of card #7 from the 2016-17 O-Pee-Chee set by Upper Deck:

He sigend it in blue sharpie during the 2016-17 season. It looks very blue in the scan, but the card is silver to the naked eye, and actually makes the Senators' uniform look pretty good.

Cody Ceci Autographed Card

It's been an interesting summer for Cody Ceci, to say the least.

For the Ottawa native whose entire career thus far had been with the Ottawa Senators, it started off with a trade to heated rivals Toronto Maple Leafs, a Canada Day mini-blockbuster that saw the Sens acquire defenceman Nikita Zaitsev, 20-goal scoring forward Connor Brown, and minor-leaguer Michael Carcon in exchange for blueliners Ceci and Ben Harpur as well as minor-league forward Aaron Luchuk and the Columbus Blue Jackets' third-round pick in the 2020 draft.

Then came the signing of his contract with the Leafs, a $4.5M, one-year deal that had the fan base all riled up, and he is now being sued by a woman who claims to have suffered burns at the hands of Ceci's wife. But Canada doesn't operate like the U.S. in those matters, so this will likely end in the defenseman's favour.

While Ceci's play has been decried of late - especially last year, when he was essentially asked to fill Erik Karlsson's shoes as the Sens' "best" right-handed defender - he still compares to guys who have the same first-round draft pick pedigree, like Olli Maatta:

via The Hockey Writers

He also did pretty well the year the Sens made it to the Conference Finals:

The Leafs just have to make sure they put him in a position to succeed, even if that means putting him on the second pair with Jake Muzzin, despite his high cap hit.

Here he is on the "Retro" variant of card #180 from the 2015-16 O-Pee-Chee set by Upper Deck:

It shows him wearing the Senators' beautiful throwback black uniform. This should be their permanent home jersey, in my opinion. He signed the card in blue sharpie, with his number (5) tagged at the end, possibly during the 2016-17 season.

Cody Ceci: Two Autographed Cards

The Ottawa Senators finished checking things off their "to do" list earlier today when they signed hometown defenseman Cody Ceci to a two-year deal that will pay him $2.25M the first year and $3.35M the next for a $2.8M cap hit that will leave him with two more years of RFA status with arbitration rights afterwards, meaning if the Sens don't offer him at least $3.35M per on his next deal, he will be allowed to become a free agent.

The 15th-overall pick of the 2012 draft, Ceci not only grew up in Ottawa suburb Orléans, but also played his Junior hockey with the OHL's Ottawa 67's; his being drafted took Jared Cowen - the ninth-overall pick in 2009 - down the Sens' depth chart, leading to his trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs last season (for Ceci's current defensive partner, Dion Phaneuf).

When the Sens fell out of playoff contention last season, he was named to Team Canada for the World Championships and brought home the gold medal, posting six points from the blue line in 10 games. He's really growing into his own and looks to become a top-pairing defender some day.

He signed these two 2012-13 Heroes And Prospects cards by In The Game in blue sharpie last season; here's a close-up of one:

It's card #72 in the series. He added his jersey number at the time (83) at the end of his signature; he wears the #5 jersey with the Sens.