Kyle Dubas is making room.
The Toronto Maple Leafs general manager sent wantaway defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and forward Connor Brown, a sweetener in the deal, to the Ottawa Senators for defensemen Cody Ceci and Ben Harpur in a deal that was made official on Monday.
The Senators also pick up a third-round pick in 2020 in the deal along with prospect forward Aaron Luchuk while Toronto receives the rights to restricted free agent forward Michael Carcone.
The deal sheds nearly $7 million off Toronto’s cap. Zaitsev is entering the third year of a seven-year, $31.5 million deal while Brown has one-year left on a deal paying him $2.1 million annually.
Cody Ceci, meanwhile, is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. He made $4.3 million last season. The Maple Leafs have options in this one. They could sign Ceci, of course, if it makes sense in the grand scheme of things. They could also let it go all the way to arbitration, and if he doesn’t fit, they could walk away from the deal. They could also flip the 25-year-old in another deal at some point.
What stands out above all, however, is that the Leafs now have what they need to re-sign Mitch Marner. They’ve squared away other RFAs, such as Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johansson, and have seemingly offer-sheet proofed themselves with the trade made on the first day of free agency.
And they may not be done.
The Leafs have had a ton of calls on Kadri the last 2-3 weeks, especially at the draft in Vancouver. I don’t get the sense they are shopping him, more listening to teams. Happy to keep him if nobody forced their hand with a trade they can’t refuse. https://t.co/fmTtPXYVVW
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 1, 2019
And it looks like Jason Spezza is also joining the Leafs.
Expect hometown boy Jason Spezza to sign a one-year contract with TOR today.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 1, 2019
For the Senators, the rebuild continues.
“We’re bringing in highly competitive players that we like as long-term fits for our team. Both are the type of true professionals who match with the culture we want to put in place here in Ottawa,” general manager Pierre Dorion said in a release from the team. “Nikita is a physical right-shot defenceman who defends hard, fills lanes and blocks shots. Connor has scored 20 goals in the league and is excellent on the forecheck and the penalty kill. We feel both players will add to our depth and fit well within the structure we want our team to play.”
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck.