We'll need a Jake-Walman-size incentive to take Cody Ceci off Edmonton's hands.

You took dumoulin and gave up a 4th. Idk what yzerman was doing but walman trade was not it.

Ceci doesn't have Walman's term, the Ducks failed to add enough to get to the cap floor this week, and a minute-munching RHD from a SCF roster will have value, even if minimal in the face of what lack of value his name brings.

A late round pick to offer Edmonton the cap relief they're after while finding another asset to flip at the deadline is tidy business for both clubs.

The Ducks are $2.7 million short of the cap floor, they can re-sign Jackson LaCombe for $1.75 million and then fill the 23rd roster slot with a $1 million player better than Cody Ceci.

Ceci was third in 5v5 TOI among Oilers defensemen during the playoffs. You clearly don't like him but smarter men obviously appreciate what he brings.

He's not a cap dump.

It's untrue that I don't like Ceci; it's just that I don't think that he fills any need for Anaheim (including the falsely perceived one that we'll have trouble getting across the $2.7 million gap to the cap floor) who I believe would decline this offer without an incentive. We have 6 defensemen on the roster now plus RFA Jackson LaCombe, plus Drew Helleson and Tristan Luneau coming up, so Ceci simply isn't a fit for us. Other teams might and should pay at least a fifth for him; I don't think that the Ducks should.

I purposely didn't use the phrase "cap dump" because I think that your motivation in wanting to trade him is to open up the roster slot and give yourselves a small bit of cap relief, not to get rid of his cap hit entirely. One final note: the Ducks have a serious antipathy towards underwater contracts, even ones by so little as the sum here.

And what's the plan to remain cap compliant come the deadline when, supposedly, Dumolin and Vatrano are flipped at 50%? Will the Ducks be taking on cap dumps for free at the deadline? What's the point of acquiring a "better" player for $1M if the only goal for the Ducks this year is to secure another lottery pick and not get hosed on any upcoming Zegras trade?

Be objective. Ceci would automatically be the second-best right handed NHL defender in the Ducks' organization. Unless the plan is to bring Helleson, Luneau, or Warren up prematurely (bringing in Dumolin already points to sheltering Zellweger) and risking their development by asking too much of them too soon on a team destined to be in the bottom five of the league again, it's a smart trade that Anaheim can bail on by the deadline to then open up room for whichever prospect RHD has earned it in San Diego. Verbeek doesn't need to overpay Lacombe and throw money at a no-name UFA to hit the cap floor. A far smarter approach is to bridge Lacombe appropriately and pay a meager price on Ceci. Feed the "bad" RHD to the wolves instead of the kids that Anaheim needs to see complete NHL players over the next two seasons.

All good points. But I'd still rather pay for a forward than Ceci. It will be interesting to see how Pat Verbeek handles this issue.

Unless the Ducks are back onto their "internal cap hit" nonsense, why can't Anaheim do both? Acquiring Ceci is in the objective interest of the Ducks (at the cost of just giving Edmonton their own 5th back no less, so no real asset loss) and there is a legitimate need to start adding viable pieces elsewhere on the roster should the Ducks ever have any passing interest on not being a basement team for the rest of the 2020's.

The problem is that unless Anaheim is about to make a very, very bold push for Marner, the options are virtually down to bringing in Alex Nylander or Barabanov on a short "prove it" deal to usurp McGinn or they're taking expensive bottom-six scraps from teams looking for cap space. Farabee maybe? The logic remains incredibly static though: the best path forward is to make both moves instead of one singular move to stay ~$20M below the salary cap.