The Edmonton Oilers have traded defenseman Cody Ceci and a 2025 third-round pick to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for defenseman Ty Emberson
, the clubs announced Sunday evening.
Ceci, 30, appeared in 79 games with the Oilers during the 2023-24 regular season, collecting five goals and 25 points while averaging 20:01 of ice time per night. The 6’3″ right-handed defender added two goals and five points in 24 playoff games as the Oilers reached the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Florida Panthers in seven games.
Emberson, 24, is a 6’2″ righty who averaged 18:33 of ice time over his first 30 NHL games with the Sharks in 2023-24, racking up 10 points (one goal, nine assists) over that span.
The Sharks claimed Emberson, a third-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in 2018, off waivers from the New York Rangers during the 2023 preseason.
The Oilers are approaching the deadline to decide whether to match the offer sheets tendered by the St. Louis Blues to RFAs Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway last Monday. If the Oilers elect not to match Broberg’s two-year, $4.58 million AAV contract offer by August 19, they’ll receive a 2025 second-round pick as compensation; if they don’t match Holloway’s two-year, $2.29 million AAV deal, they’ll receive the Blues’ 2025 third-round pick.
Sunday’s deal with the Sharks gives the Oilers an additional $2.3 million in salary cap space for the 2024-25 season. Ceci is entering the final year of his current contract, which carries a $3.25 million cap hit, while Emberson will become a free agent next summer once his existing $950,000 AAV deal expires (PuckPedia noted Sunday that Emberson will become a Group 6 UFA in 2025 if he skates in fewer than 50 NHL games in 2024-25).
The Ottawa Senators originally selected Ceci in the first round (No. 15 overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft. Through 786 career games over parts of 11 seasons with the Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Oilers, the Ottawa-born defenseman has collected 48 goals and 211 points; he’s added four goals and 19 points in 88 playoff contests.
