What have Mikael Granlund & Cody Ceci brought to Dallas Stars in two games?

It’s not really fair at this point to evaluate how exactly Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci have fit in with the Dallas Stars.

It’s been just two games, there’s an international break looming, and honestly the best time to judge trade acquisitions is usually after five or six games with their new team.

But we won’t hit that number until Feb. 22, the first game after the 4 Nation’s Face-Off, so we might as well work with what we’ve got now.

In two games since the trade with the San Jose Sharks — who the Stars fittingly play on Saturday night — Granlund had an assist against the Columbus Blue Jackets and then had a quieter night against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

Ceci played 22:16 against the Blue Jackets in his home debut and then had 24 shifts for 18:24 against Anaheim. He was on the ice for Trevor Zegras’ game-winning goal on Tuesday, a play where all of the Stars skaters forgot to cover the front of the net.

Both players are rentals, but Stars general manager Jim Nill has also been open about both potentially being signed before July 1.

Nill also said he sees both Granlund and Ceci as potential extension candidates and more than rentals. Granlund history with Duchene also notable to Nill, so could see those two playing together tomorrow.

— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) February 1, 2025

With all of that in mind, let’s pull a couple clips.

First let’s look at the film on Ceci, who was playing a larger role than he should have with San Jose and last season with the Edmonton Oilers.

Ceci is an unremarkable, but solid defender when given the right work load. He also has some tendencies to hunt contact in the corners.

This was pretty notable against Ducks on Tuesday, where Ceci hunted hits in the right corner at least five times, including these examples.

This isn’t a bad thing, it’s a tendency, and as the Stars adjust to having Ceci in the lineup, his defensive partner will have to be more aware of how much the defender can try to squash a play in the corner.

The other thing Ceci does well, and there was a good example of this Tuesday, is defend the rush. He’s not fleet of foot, that’s not the claim here, but he does a good job of diffusing individual rush chances, and not overly pursuing in this element of the game.

Here’s an example:

It works with the Stars approach, and honestly, with how poorly Matt Dumba has played this season, Ceci is a major upgrade right now.

Now let’s look at Granlund, who in my view can be an ideal connector for the Stars when transitioning through the neutral zone.

Here’s a clip from the Anaheim game.

The other tendency from Granlund, which I think will have a positive impact, is his ability and willingness to shoot the puck.

He’s a playmaker, yes, but the Stars are a team that needs more selfish shooters and Granlund is willing to do that.

Here’s an in-zone example from the game against Columbus.

It’s not a memorable play, it’s really simple, but it’s something the Stars need more of in general.

Overall, the returns have been decent for both Granlund and Ceci. It’s too early to really judge, but we can at least start to see some of the tendencies.