I thought Ceci signed for 4.3 and isnt going to arbitration.

Ottawa submitted a qualified offer to Ceci of 1 year at 4.3 million. Ceci can accept this and the leafs are stuck with it. Ceci can elect to go to arbitration and the leafs do not have to accept the arbitration amount and Ceci then becomes a UFA. It appears the leafs and Ceci have a verbal at 4.5 for 1 year to avoid arbitration. Until a verbal contract is signed and filed with the league it is not binding. The verbal contract is probably conditional on what Marner's contract is.

Perfectly said, all that's happened here is the Leafs moved NZs 4.5 x 5 for basically the same quality player at 4.5 x 1. They also have the option of paying most of the contract in a bonus and leaving the salary at 700k and flip him to budget team (like Carolina) for TVR type player or add a few pieces and pry Pesce out of Carolina

Ceci is on the team, not getting traded before the season starts.

max SB and then try and flip the cap hit..... that Dubas level Sh*t

The Leafs need Ceci. Those trades . If you think Weegar and Pateryn are NHL top 6 Dmen, they can't be obtained for non NHLers.

Yeah if the Leafs could obtain Weegar and Paterynk so cheaply, yea I would say the Leafs might walk away from Ceci. But those trades aren't happening. The fact that the Leaf could've had Hainsey signed at 3.5m and not accepted Ceci in the trade shows me the Leafs want Ceci (right or wrong) this year.

The verbal agreement with Ceci is non-binding, but the Leafs need him right now. They'd be wise to sign him to that contract now, as opposed to risking him signing for 5 million or so in arbitration. Leafs won't walk away, as I said, they need him. Him and Barrie are the only NHL-quality players the Leafs have on the right side.

but if they did walk away, thats 4.5M to get a TVR/Pysyk/Johns/Honka/Hamonic/C. Murphy types of guys
and also ( kudos to @boomer125 ) they could sign Ceci to $700K + $3.8M SB, then flip the cap to a floor team for a D-man or package (and then their own package ) to get another D-man (better than Ceci)

Thank you, this is what I've been saying also.