Aside from it being a popular opinion to have for Leafs fans, what exactly has Ceci done as a Leaf to be so "cringy"? I haven't seen it. He's been "fine". Nothing spectacular at either end - just kind of steady and boring, which is welcome on this team.
- Deeps27

Just because people thought it was cringy before we traded for him and signed they have that same opinion.

He hasn't been as bad as everyone was saying he would be. I hardly even notice him out there which is a good thing.

People just love to hate, or have a scapegoat. Which has been Hutch and Ceci. Or Marincin when he's in the lineup.

The ones people should be upset with are the guys who are making the big bucks, and are only noticable on the rare powerplays we get. And even than haven't even been spectacular.

having a tough guy does not stop teams from taking liberties.
we have 5000 examples of this.

It does make fans feel better thinking they have someone on the team who Stops those things.
- senstroll

I disagree. It doesn't need to be the classical "tough guy", but you do need someone who intimidates the other team, and it absolutely does affect other teams taking liberties on stars. Many oldschool goons stated that they didn't want to have Brashear/Simmonds/Probert tracking them down if things got out of hand. And this day in age the goons are gone and nobody seems to like fighting. But a guy like Tom Wilson, Josh Anderson, Blake Coleman can all play in a top 6 role, while scaring the pants off their opposition. When was the last time you saw their stars get a cheap shot? Panarin did fine with Anderson, All Capitals were fine with Wilson, same goes for Hall and Hischier on the Devs. Nobody wants to fight those guys, but I know dang well I can skate up to any leaf, and lick their face. All that will happen is post game comments stating "can't wait for the league to review this"

Real scary. You don't have to be a good fighter, but answer the bell for once!!!!