Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe revealed shortly thereafter that Ceci will be in the lineup for Friday's game against the Anaheim Ducks, according to TSN's Mark Masters.
The 26-year-old missed the club's previous 14 games after suffering an ankle injury Feb. 5 against the New York Rangers.
Ceci entered Friday's game having registered eight points while logging 20:38 of average ice time through 54 games this season. The 6-foot-2 rearguard also plays a vital role on the penalty kill, leading the team with 2:49 of shorthanded ice time per game coming into the contest against the Ducks.
Toronto is also expecting to get blue-chip rearguard Morgan Rielly back in the near future, while Jake Muzzin remains out with a broken hand.
The Maple Leafs loaned defenseman Timothy Liljegren to the AHL's Toronto Marlies in a corresponding move Friday night.
It carries an average annual value of $1.5 million, TSN's Ryan Rishaug reports. That's a modest raise on the one-year, $1-million pact Archibald signed with the Oilers last July.
Archibald was set to be a pending unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. The 27-year-old has matched a career high with 12 goals this season, while also chipping in eight assists across 59 games.
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Well, we nailed our best bet again on Thursday. But that's all we nailed while slumping to a frustrating 1-3 finish.
There's a ton of hockey upcoming this weekend though, offering plenty of opportunities to make it back. Let's dive in.
Friday notes
The Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks couldn't be trending in more opposite directions right now as they get set to meet tonight north of the border. The Avs have won nine straight on the road, while the Canucks have lost four in a row overall and three of their last four on home ice. Still, this is a good spot for Vancouver to bust out of its slump.
The Canucks are on an 8-0-2 run at the Rogers Arena coming off a home loss. They had won 11 of 12 overall at home before this little slump, and I like them to rediscover that form and make it four wins out of six at home against the Avalanche.
Like Colorado, the Vegas Golden Knights are playing excellent lately too. They've won nine of their last 10 games, but only one of those victories has come on the road. That recent surge leads to an inflated Friday price on the Knights against the Winnipeg Jets, even though Vegas is below .500 on the road this season. The Jets, meanwhile, have won four straight at home, and they offer good value at this price.
Friday bets:
Best bet: Vancouver Canucks (+115)
Winnipeg Jets (+120)
Saturday notes
If current trends continue, neither the Carolina Hurricanes nor the New York Islanders will earn a playoff berth, making Saturday's meeting at Nassau Coliseum vitally important for both teams.
The Hurricanes have lost four straight, and the Islanders have dropped five consecutive contests and nine of their last 11. Carolina is three points back of New York for the final playoff spot in the East with a game in hand, making this matchup an absolute must win, and I firmly believe more in the Hurricanes' talent to get them back on track. The Hurricanes have won three straight road games against the Islanders, and 12 of their last 16 in Long Island. Take them to pick up two key points on Saturday.
The New York Rangers are also in the thick of the wild-card race while playing terrific hockey as they prepare to host the New Jersey Devils. This is a crucial game during the Rangers' playoff push, and it's hard to envision them slipping up. The Devils have lost four straight at Madison Square Garden and nine of their last 12 clashes there, with seven of those defeats coming by two-plus goals.
The Philadelphia Flyers are no longer fighting for a wild-card spot as the hottest team in the NHL right now, and they're instead setting their sights on winning the Metropolitan Division. The Buffalo Sabres are in town on Saturday, and they've lost six straight at the Wells Fargo Center and 10 of their last 12 in Philly.
The Sabres have scored two goals or fewer in each of their last four trips to Philadelphia, which doesn't bode well as they get set to face Carter Hart, who's 19-2-2 at home this season with a 1.64 GAA and .942 save percentage. Hart has allowed two or fewer goals in all six home games since returning from an injury, and in 18 of his 20 starts since the beginning of November.
Saturday bets:
Best bet: Hurricanes (+105)
Rangers -1.5 (+150)
Sabres' team total under 2.5 (-120)
Sunday notes
The Minnesota Wild round out a Southern California weekend on Sunday in Anaheim after visiting the Kings on Saturday. The Wild have won six straight on the road heading into the weekend, and they've experienced plenty of success in Anaheim, winning five of their last six games away to the Ducks. They're sitting at -140 right now for Saturday's game, so we should get them slightly cheaper on Sunday prior to the second of back-to-back contests.
Playing on consecutive days hasn't seemed to matter so far this campaign though for the Wild, who were 2-0 on the road in February on no rest, and have won three of their last four in this spot. The Ducks, meanwhile, have lost five straight home games when their opponent is playing without rest and eight of their last nine. Ride with the road favorite here.
Earlier in the day, the Hurricanes visit the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the total in that game should offer good value. I expect it to be sitting at 6 or 6.5. The last six meetings between these teams in Pittsburgh have gone under, as have 12 of 14. None of those 14 games have featured six-plus goals, and we should look for that to continue on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday bets:
Best bet: Wild
Hurricanes/Penguins under (play at 6 or higher)
Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.
Richard played 20 seasons with the Canadiens, winning a remarkable 11 Stanley Cups - an NHL record for a player. He joined the Habs during the 1955-56 campaign and was on five consecutive championship-winning teams to begin his career.
He served as Montreal's captain from 1971 to 1975, and the organization retired his No. 16 before Richard was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979. Richard finished his career with 1,046 points in 1,258 games.
A four-time postseason All-Star and Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner, Richard was the younger brother of fellow Canadiens legend Maurice "The Rocket" Richard.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly announced Wednesday that the 2020-21 salary cap is projected to be between $84 million and $88.2 million. Both ends of that range represent substantial increases from the current ceiling of $81.5 million.
At the very least, NHL teams are looking at a $2.5-million increase, and a bump potentially as high as $6.7 million. Should the new ceiling fall right in the middle at $86.1 million, the $4.6-million jump will represent the league's biggest cap spike since 2011-12.
Though all teams operate under the same ceiling, some clubs are better positioned to take advantage of the impending increase than others.
For teams that recently locked up their core players, the contracts signed will look better and better as the cap rises. Conversely, clubs with multiple pending free agents will soon be forced to dish out more money than they would have if they'd signed their key players earlier.
It's important to remember that general managers and player agents often approach contract negotiations by examining the cap percentage a team invests in a particular deal, rather than the cap hit itself. This makes it easier to compare contracts signed in different seasons.
With all that said, let's examine the clubs that stand to gain the most from a cap bump, and those that will likely benefit the least.
Teams that benefit most
Toronto Maple Leafs
Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star / Getty
Perhaps it's due to their location at the "center of the hockey universe," but it often seems the Maple Leafs are the first club mentioned when discussing teams up against the cap. It's true Toronto is tight against the cap ceiling, but so are several other teams.
The Maple Leafs already got their heavy lifting out of the way: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander are all signed through at least 2023-24. Toronto doesn't have any key pending unrestricted free agents beyond Tyson Barrie, and its most important pending restricted free agent, Travis Dermott, likely won't be too expensive. Perhaps most importantly, the extra cap space - a minimum of $6.3 million - will help the Maple Leafs in their offseason search for defensive help.
Washington Capitals
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
Work will need to be done in the summer of 2021 when Alex Ovechkin (UFA) and Jakub Vrana (RFA) are in need of new contracts, but the Capitals have the rest of their core locked up.
Nicklas Backstrom, who was set to become a UFA this summer, signed a five-year extension carrying a $9.2-million cap hit in January. Had Backstrom negotiated his new deal after the league announced the projected cap increase, he likely would've been able to collect a few more bucks.
General manager Brian MacLellan also signed several members of the supporting cast to four-year deals this past summer. Those contracts - Carl Hagelin ($2.75M), Richard Panik ($2.75M), Garnet Hathaway ($1.5M), and Nick Jensen ($2.5M) - will be more team-friendly with the cap increase.
With Braden Holtby's $6.1-million hit coming off the books on July 1 and in-house replacement Ilya Samsonov seemingly ready for a starter's role, even a conservative estimate leaves the Caps with close to $13 million in cap flexibility this summer.
St. Louis Blues
Jeff Vinnick / National Hockey League / Getty
The Blues have the majority of their squad signed through next season. The one major piece currently missing from the equation is Alex Pietrangelo, a pending UFA.
Re-signing Pietrangelo initially seemed like a long shot after GM Doug Armstrong traded for fellow right-handed defenseman Justin Faulk in September and inked him to a seven-year, $45-million extension. But while Pietrangelo can conceivably command more money in light of the cap increase, the extra space certainly boosts St. Louis' chances of re-signing its captain to some degree.
The Blues project to have a minimum of $10.2 million in offseason cap space, with Vince Dunn the only key RFA set for a modest raise.
Calgary Flames
Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images Sport / Getty
The bulk of the Flames' core is signed through at least the 2021-22 season, and most of the cap hits are already considered team-friendly within the league's current cap structure.
The contracts of Johnny Gaudreau ($6.75M), Sean Monahan ($6.375M), Elias Lindholm ($4.85M), and Noah Hanifin ($4.95M) will soon look even better. Not to mention, general manager Brad Treliving already took care of business by inking Matthew Tkachuk to a three-year, $21-million bridge deal, and showed faith in 23-year-old blue-liner Rasmus Andersson with a six-year, $27.3-million pact that kicks in next season.
Calgary has three pending RFAs, but the trio of Andrew Mangiapane, Mark Jankowski, and Oliver Kylington shouldn't break the bank. There are several UFAs on the blue line in TJ Brodie, Travis Hamonic, and deadline rentals Erik Gustafsson and Derek Forbort, but the Flames project to have a minimum of $19.4 million with which to work this summer. Calgary could conceivably make quality adds up front, on the back end, and in net.
Vegas Golden Knights
Ethan Miller / Getty Images Sport / Getty
The Golden Knights have a lot of money committed to their current roster, but very few holes to fill. Their seven best forwards and top five defensemen are all signed through at least next season.
Vegas' biggest issue this season has been goaltending, as Father Time appears to be catching up to Marc-Andre Fleury. But the team acquired 2019 Vezina finalist Robin Lehner in a surprising move at the trade deadline, and it looks like he could be part of the solution down the stretch and into the playoffs. With the cap increase, Vegas will have at least $12.1 million in flexibility to bring back Lehner and reinforce the rest of the lineup with depth pieces.
Teams that benefit least
Buffalo Sabres
Kevin Sousa / National Hockey League / Getty
This cap increase couldn't be coming at a worse time for the Sabres. The club may have a minimum of $37 million in cap space this summer, but only four forwards - Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner, Kyle Okposo, and Marcus Johansson - are signed beyond this season.
Buffalo has a long list of pending RFAs, too, including Sam Reinhart, Victor Olofsson, Dominik Kahun, Brandon Montour, Lawrence Pilut, and Linus Ullmark. GM Jason Botterill could've done himself some favors by signing at least a couple of those players to extensions before the 2019-20 campaign - especially Reinhart, who entered the season as an obvious member of the team's core.
Botterill will also have to deal with the second contracts of young defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju when their entry-level pacts expire after next season. He'd be smart to try and hammer out some extensions this summer, but the cap increase means new deals won't come cheap.
Ottawa Senators
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport / Getty
To say the Senators have been pinching pennies during their rebuild would be an understatement. Their projected cap hit of $74.4 million this season is the second-lowest in the league, while their estimated payroll is just $66.7 million. Ottawa has cleverly navigated its way to the cap floor by spending as little real money as possible.
For example, the Senators acquired both Artem Anisimov and Nikita Zaitsev this past summer. Before Anisimov and Zaitsev arrived in Ottawa, their former teams (the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs, respectively) had already paid significant bonuses due to them. The Senators are now paying those players far less in actual salary than their cap hits would suggest, while those same cap hits help the team reach the floor.
That said, Ottawa has just seven skaters and $41.8 million on the books for the 2020-21 campaign. The cap floor is typically set around $20 million below the ceiling, which means the Senators could have to dish out at least $25 million this summer just to reach the lower limit. That's hardly an ideal situation for an organization trying to spend as little as possible.
New York Islanders
Mike Stobe / National Hockey League / Getty
There's an argument to be made that the cap spike helps the Islanders, who have most of their roster locked up moving forward. But the team must soon deal with three very key pending RFAs in Mathew Barzal, Ryan Pulock, and Devon Toews.
Barzal is the club's best forward, and Pulock is the team's top blue-liner. They're also two of the best RFAs leaguewide this summer. They weren't going to come cheap either way, but the cap increase means both players can ask for more coin. Had these RFAs been extended earlier, they would almost certainly be under contract at lower cap percentages than they will be after this offseason.
New York projects to have a minimum of $12.6 million in cap space this summer. But after dealing with the team's RFAs, GM Lou Lamoriello will have very little money left to upgrade his offense.
