I fully acknowledge that most of you don’t want to be hearing about trade rumours this early in the year.

I fully acknowledge that some of you have lowered your expectations enough that you are happy with what you’ve seen from Ceci so far this year.

I also fully acknowledge that the Toronto Sun is not a reliable source for anything and if it was any other player than Cody Ceci we probably wouldn’t even give this post the time of day.

Nevertheless, here we are. Four games have been played, admittedly Ceci hasn’t been terrible, and we’re gearing up to trade him.

Could Ceci go to Winnipeg? Could he even get there when they don’t have an airport? What would the possible return be for him? Let’s explore these ideas.

First, the airport one. Despite the lack of airport, it is possible to reach Winnipeg by rail or bus, most likely from Grand Forks, ND. I suggest stopping off at Happy Harry’s Liquor before making the border crossing. It’s an elite liquor store.

Secondly, could Ceci go to Winnipeg. Well, Traikos is correct in that the Leafs should be motivated to clear his $4.5M salary if they can. And if Byfuglien isn’t coming back the Jets wouldn’t have any problem absorbing that cap hit. If he is coming back the Leafs would need to take back similar salary and that’s where it would get tricky as the closest salary is that of Matthieu Perreault who has an extra year of contract which may be a drawback without an appealing sweetener. Although Perreault is the better player in the deal too.

Finally, what would the possible return be? Well, if the Leafs are getting back cap space as part of the deal, they’ve already won somewhat. And it’s also entirely possible that Ceci warrants the return of a mid round pick or B- level prospect. Listen we’ll take what we can get, and sing our happy tune when Dermott returns.

Why yes, this is 100% true and bursts my bubble. It’s much more likely the Leafs will want to keep the guy they currently play 20 minutes a night and would prefer to shop Martin Marincin or Justin Holl, one of which who will likely be on waivers in the near future, and both of which could be readily replaced by Kevin Gravel or Jordan Schmaltz on next to no notice. Neither of these players would cost the Jets much, and it’s likely the Leafs would be happy to get an asset for someone who is going to immediately lose their job to Travis Dermott.

Sorry to throw some water on that fire, rather than fan the flames of the Ceci speculation, but this trade rumour was running on fumes. I wouldn’t doubt that the Jets and Leafs could hook up on a small deal, and the Jets certainly have some interesting AHL and former mid round picks like Vatanen and Cederholm that are interesting, but a blockbuster at this point of the season seems unlikely, no matter how in tough the Jets are on defense at the moment.