Kings sign defensemen Brian Dumoulin (three-year contract, AAV: $4,000,000) & Cody Ceci (four-year contract, AAV: $4,500,000)

The LA Kings have signed defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci to multi-year contracts. Dumoulin’s contract is for three years, carrying an AAV of $4,000,000 while Ceci is signed to a four-year deal, carrying an AAV of $4,500,000.

Dumoulin is not a name I really had on my radar this summer but I suppose it should have been. He’s a two-time Stanley Cup champion with Pittsburgh and was traded to New Jersey last season in exchange for a second-round pick, helping bolster the Devils defensive corps for what was hoped to be a postseason run before Jack Hughes went down with an injury. Ceci rounds out the team’s right side of the blueline, joining Drew Doughty and Brandt Clarke among the defensemen expected to be in the lineup on opening night. I’d say these signings trend in a certain direction, specifically with the Ceci signing, that I’ll try to break down below.

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Just to get it out of the way, I’m not yet sure if I agree with the approach. I personally think the group today is more playoff-ready than it was a week ago and that seems to be the thought process of the summer for the Kings. I’m not sure, though, if the group is better of the 82 games prior.

Here’s where I’m at.

I don’t think it’s as massive a gap as I think some others will, but I don’t know yet on Day 1 if this was the right way forward. I understand the thought process, but without seeing the machine in motion, it’s a very different collection of parts here. With that being said, I’m actually not even sure that the Kings are done restructuring that unit and I think it’s fair to say that the Kings had other options that did not work out. Ultimately, the Kings did try and make some other things work and were not able to. As it stands today, I think the group the Kings had in the playoffs was a more well-rounded group over 82 games than what they have today. Over 82 games being key. In a playoff series? I’m not sure that’s true and I think that’s what the thought process is here. This group of defensemen is playoff-hardened and that was quite valuable to the Kings. Will it work or not? It’s just such a different group that is structured differently and built differently than a group that has come up short, season-over-season, in the playoffs. What Dumoulin and Ceci have in common is that they have been relied upon throughout their respective careers as Top-4 defensemen on playoff teams and the Kings will be banking on assessments of these players that seems to be shared by many organizations, versus what the statistical and analytical profiles say about them, specifically in the case of Ceci.

I think that the hope here is that Brandt Clarke takes a big step forward and cements himself as a top-four defenseman this season. I could see him meshing well with Dumoulin or remaining on a pair with Joel Edmundson. The Kings now have three defensemen who I would classify as having the “playoff build” teams seem to covet in Ceci, Dumoulin and Edmundson. It’s a very different look, for sure, and while the Kings didn’t come to terms with Vladislav Gavrikov, they’re now pretty locked into this group of players, with Ceci, Dumoulin and Edmundson signed over the last 12 months with at least three years under contract for all three players. Things teams seem to want in a playoff performer. If you wanted change, you certainly got it. Is it change that will work? Is there enough skill and puck movement within that group to balance out the strong intangibles that Dumoulin and Ceci bring? Time will tell. A look at both players individually below.

On Cody Ceci –

Over the last nine seasons, Ceci has played in a Top-4 role on a team that has advanced to the Conference Finals or further on four different occasions with three different organizations. Ceci ranked second in time on ice with the Ottawa Senators in 2017, second on the Edmonton Oilers in 2022, third on the Oilers in 2024 and fourth on the Dallas Stars in 2025. Each of those teams won at least two playoff series and Ceci was a relied upon and trusted player on all four of those teams.

Ceci is an fascinating case study between NHL coaches and general managers and those who base their player assessments on analytics. That begs a question that I actually find very interesting. What is the discrepancy here between a player who has been relied upon to play an important role by countless different coaches on successful teams and a compilation of analytical metrics that are very much not favorable? If there’s a small difference, no problem, but Ceci feels like a case study of a massive difference. If you look at those numbers in different areas, Ceci doesn’t stack up all that well. Yet, he continues to be utilized for important minutes on very good teams, including the four seasons listed above. Everywhere he goes, he plays a big role, yet the profile is what it is. The former player, for that contract? Feels like a steal. The latter? Feels like a massive overpayment. Where the player actually lands, I’d like to find the person equipped enough on both fronts to answer it objectively.

On what “what is appealing” side, Ceci is 6-3 and if you look at the build outs of successful teams, size on the blueline has been there. Holland said he wants more players to win battles during the postseason and he’s certainly familiar with Ceci in being that type of player from his time in Edmonton. If you’re looking for a statistic in another area then how about this one – zone exits with possession. Ceci was successful on more than 85 percent of his zone exits last season, which ranked 31st among the 222 defensemen with at least 500 minutes played. His percentage on zone exits via a pass ranked inside the Top-5 in terms of success rate, at over 95 percent. I don’t think Ceci is here for his playmaking abilities offensively but the ability to exit the zone with possession is important for defensemen. Last season, the metrics say he did that quite well.

On the other side of the coin is a difficult set of analytical possession metrics. Last season specifically was not pretty. Ceci was well below 50 percent in a number of different categories this season in terms of percentage of chances controlled. Shot attempts, scoring chances and high-danger chances saw him on the wrong side of even by a decent margin. During his three seasons in Edmonton, the numbers were much better but whether it was in San Jose or Dallas last season, he was given a very heavily tiled set of starts towards the defensive zone and he ranked towards the bottom of NHL defensemen in most possession categories. Not all of that is his fault but the numbers are the numbers.

The Kings are targeting playoff-type players and they view Ceci in that bucket, the same way they did last summer with Joel Edmundson. The numbers aren’t going to look any different regardless of how you view them, so it all comes down to the front office valuing things they believe should make the club more successful come the postseason.

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

On Brian Dumoulin –

Dumoulin is an interesting add here for the Kings. He’s not a 1-for-1 replacement for Vladislav Gavrikov but I do think they play similar styles. Both players have good size, with Dumoulin coming in at 6-4, and while neither player is known for being overly physical, I don’t think either player is a guy who gets pushed around on the ice or outmatched physically. They’re just not overly physical players. Both Dumoulin and Gavrikov defend well with their reach and their sticks and while neither player is an offensive juggernaut from a production perspective, both players are capable of moving the puck, especially when it comes to clean exits and entries.

Stylistically, I think the fit makes sense, but Gavrikov is a step above what Dumoulin’s track record is. That’s okay, if the Kings upgrade their blueline elsewhere, but this isn’t just a plug and play situation, even if the styles of play here feel kind of similar. Dumoulin is a proven winner in the postseason and he’s the kind of player that teams typically tend to target at the deadline to bolster their playoff fortunes. He played nearly 30 minutes per game in the playoffs last year with New Jersey, playing more minutes than guys like Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce. While I don’t think he’s an LD1 on a playoff team, he’s capable of playing on a second or third defensive pairing on a contender and succeeding in that role.

For a player of his stature and position, Dumoulin moves pretty well. His NHL Edge data shows him ranking between the 55th and 60th percentile of defensemen in looking at speed bursts between 18 and 22 MPH. Those numbers are very similar, year-over-year, from his 2023-24 season with Seattle to his 2024-25 campaign split between Anaheim and New Jersey.

Where Dumoulin’s game seemed to really vary season-over-season was that a few of his numbers fell off a cliff during his time with the Ducks. Anaheim was obviously a very young team that was one of the NHL’s worst defensively, leading the NHL in shots against per game last season. Dumoulin was a veteran who was acquired over the summer to help correct that in Anaheim and he wasn’t able to. He was a much better player on better teams in Seattle and Pittsburgh and I actually think he should fit in pretty well with the way that the Kings play the game.