The Penguins' defense looks to be set for next season after the signing of right-handed defenseman Cody Ceci to a one-year deal worth $1.25 million on Saturday.
The signing leaves the Penguins with $1.32 million in projected cap space with a full 23-man roster.
Ceci, 26, skated in 56 games with the Maple Leafs last season, playing on the second defense pairing with Morgan Reilly. He scored one goal and seven assists and finished No. 2 on the Leafs in hits with 92, and No. 3 in blocked shots with 79. He averaged 2:50 of ice time on the penalty kill per game.
"I'm a two-way defenseman," Ceci said of his game when speaking with reporters on Saturday. "In the past, I kind of got away from it a bit last year. I'm just looking to add that offensive side back a little more. Pretty steady defensively, play hard, so that'll be there. I'm just trying to add a little more of the two-way game back like I had previously in my career as well.
While Ceci wants to strengthen the offensive side of his game, Rutherford said he didn't want to focus on any weaknesses of his game when talking about what he brings.
"I think we can do that with every player. I’m not going to get into that. I just take the positives. We got an experienced NHL defenseman at this point in free agency who gives our defense more balance," Rutherford told DK Pittsburgh Sports on Saturday.
Rutherford said that Ceci was on the Penguins' original list of targets heading into free agency.
"This is one of those cases where a guy didn’t get signed earlier for what he’d hoped for and kind of kept slipping through the cracks," Rutherford said. "We jumped in there last week and started to do more work on him, background checks and different things like that. Then Mike Sullivan and I had a conversation with him and his agent yesterday and it all came together this morning."
One of the things that drew Ceci to the Penguins was the "opportunity to compete for the Stanley Cup," and that he thought Pittsburgh would be a good fit for him. I asked what about his skillset and the way the Penguins play makes this a good fit.
"They play fast," he said. "They have a good team. They have some high-end offensive guys on the team, and they were looking to just fill more of a defensive role, and to fill in that spot on the right side of the back end. I thought just all-around, the fit worked for both sides, giving me an opportunity to play quite a bit and giving them an opportunity to fill that defensive spot and a more defensive role, to come in and kill some penalties, play strong defensively."
With the signing, the Penguins' defense pairings for next season could look something like this, with all left-handed defensemen on the left and all right-handed defensemen on the right:
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson -- John Marino
Mike Matheson -- Cody Ceci
(Juuso Riikola -- Chad Ruhwedel)
Rutherford said that the pairings have yet to be decided, though.
"We’ll let (Sullivan) sort that out at camp," he said. "We’ll see who’s got the chemistry with who. We’ll see how it plays out."
Ceci is already familiar with Matheson, as the two were teammates on Canada's 2016 World Championship team.
"It'll be nice to see (Matheson) again," Ceci said. "Maybe get a chance to play together again, we could be a D-pair, who knows."
Ceci was originally a first-round pick of the Senators in 2012, being selected No. 15 overall. He spent six years with the Senators and set a career high in points with 26 in both the 2015-16 and 2018-19 seasons. He was a second-pairing defenseman in the Senators' run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2017, a series that went to Game 7 double overtime.
"I like the fact that he has some experience in the league," Rutherford said of Ceci. "He had those years in Ottawa where he played against the other team’s top players at a young age. He was on the team that had the good run in the playoffs, so he has that experience. He’s a guy who can play the game both ways. It depends on what system he’s in. We think putting him in the right situation, trying to give him the best chance to succeed, that he can help us.
Ceci is now the seventh player from the first round of the 2012 draft that was held in Pittsburgh to end up with the Penguins. He follows Alex Galchenyuk (No. 3 overall), Derrick Pouliot (No. 8), Mark Jankowski (No. 21), Olli Maatta (No. 22), Mike Matheson (No. 23), and Tanner Pearson (No. 30).
"It's funny how some things work out," Ceci said of things coming full circle back to the city in which he was drafted. "That was a special moment for me. It'll be nice to go back and get a chance to play in that building for the Penguins. It's always a nice building to go to as a visitor, so I'm sure it's even better to be a part of the Penguins organization."
Dave Molinari contributed to this report.
