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Cody Ceci has had a target on his back from the analytics community and also the fan base here for a while now, but the only observer that really counts is the head coach, and Kris Knoblauch has a different mindset with his Piano Man, thank you.

The Edmonton Oilers head man played Ceci more than any other defenceman (22:35) in the Game 4 1-0 victory over Los Angeles Sunday, the most of any of his defencemen five-on-five. He also played him 65 seconds of the only Kings’ power play, tied with his partner Darnell Nurse. So …

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“Usually with a defenceman you look at the check they missed or the assignment they lost or the errant pass that’s picked off for a goal against. You want defencemen rushing the puck up ice or undressing a player at the opposition blueline, well, he doesn’t do that very much. I like that he’s solid and consistent,” said Knoblauch.

“Maybe you want more (offence) but I saw a stat where I believe Cody, at a certain period of time, was on for the same amount of even-strength goals as (Nikita) Kucherov,” said Knoblauch.

Ceci, who played 20 minutes a night against either first or second-line players and led the team in penalty-kill minutes as well this season, is fine with the shutdown job.

“I’m a pretty low-key guy, not very high maintenance. I’m good with whatever role they put me in as long as they fit me in on the team and I can help us win games,” said Ceci, who used to be a point-producer in junior but in his first NHL gig in Ottawa Erik Karlsson was that guy, so Ceci switched gears.

Analytics could never figure out why Kris Russell was so beloved here, even though his shot-blocking and all the bruises he wore made him valuable to his teammates. Ceci does make mistakes, and he doesn’t have the offence to offset that, although he did have 25 points. But he’s not sweating it.

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“I don’t spend a lot of time with analytics,” he said.

What he does is play hard, almost never getting on the ice with Connor McDavid and then he goes home and plays the piano to unwind.

Not as much after games as he use to, now that he’s a dad.

“It’s harder now with a daughter at home. You can’t play it late at night or I’ll wake her up and my wife will be mad,” he said. “But I play quite a bit during the day. I play classical and some rock. I play probably most days. My grandma taught me when I was younger and then I took lessons.”

So his piano moves when he moves to a different team?

Like Ottawa to Toronto, and now Edmonton? Uh, no.

“I wish, but I ended up with three (pianos), somehow. I’ve got one at the cottage, one at a friend’s place and one here. I’ve got to cut down. I wasn’t moving one here to Edmonton. But the store I got it from said they would sell it for me when I’m done,” he said.

VERY EXCLUSIVE CLUB

Corey Perry hit the 200-playoff mark in Los Angeles Sunday which puts him in select company. Only 24 NHL players have ever reached 200, with Chris Chelios (263) at the top of the list. Perry is tied with Jari Kurri and Zdeno Chara. Mark Messier (236, fourth overall), Glenn Anderson (225), Kevin Lowe (214) and Wayne Gretzky (208) are the other ex Oilers at 200 or more.

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“To get to 200 (playoff) means you’ve been on some pretty good teams with some deep runs. I’ve been fortunate. Two hundred games is special, that’s a lot. I’m looking forward to more,” said Perry, who has a Cup ring in Anaheim and three other trips to the final with Tampa, Dallas and Montreal.

That’s a roller-coaster ride with lots of handshake lines.

Winning and losing series.

“It’s nice on the winning side, not so much on the other. When you’re on the losing side you say ‘good luck.’ There’s not much else you can say. You are in such a low. It’s hard to get rid of it right then. All the emotions, playing against the same guy, four, six, seven games, and then you’re shaking his hand. But that’s the best thing about our sport, the handshakes. We know how hard it is and what the other guys have gone through,” he said.

WELCOME BACK, WOODY

Former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft was on SportsNet’s Real Kyper and Bourne show from Toronto, perhaps his first media sighting since he was let go in mid November for Knoblauch. While he was part of the Oilers organization for nine-plus years as Todd McLellan’s assistant, then head man on the farm in Bakersfield, and behind the bench here for 133 games, he’s divorced himself from Oilers viewings.

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Even though he says he knows the score with the hirings and firings in the coaching business with the NHL a very impatient place these days, there appears to be some residual unhappy feelings with Woodcroft.

What Woodcroft could have said was “I wish the Oilers all the best, I spent a long time in that organization and I spent lots of time with some fine players,” when asked about the team on the show, but he didn’t.

“I haven’t watched much of the Edmonton Oilers since I was let go in November.

“That was a choice I made … I’ve spent more time studying the league and studying trends. For me, I’ve spent a lot of time during these playoffs watching the Eastern Conference,” said Woodcroft, assisting Andre Tourigny on Canada’s world championship team after finishing with an excellent 79-41-13 record here.

Woodcroft, Craig Berube, Dean Evason, Dave Hakstol and David Quinn are looking for work currently, while D.J. Smith, fired in Ottawa several months back, is now on Jim Hiller’s staff in LA. The Senators, Seattle and San Jose are looking for head men. Drew Bannister (St. Louis), Travis Green (New Jersey) and Hiller have interim coach titles.

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PAD PATROL

Edmonton Oilers goalie Stu Skinner is one of the very few NHL tenders using CCM Axis XF pro pads, which offer more of a slingshot feel on opposing shots, often pushing rebounds past the oncoming players. Theoretically, it gives Skinner, who got the new model last summer, more time to react after the initial shot.

“You’re hopin’,’’ said Skinner, with a smile.

“That’s originally why I made the switch. I like them a lot.”

While Skinner is a cool-looking customer in the net, he’s also branched out to do TV commercials. He has one with California Closets running right now. He’s very good, maybe not quite in Leon Draisaitl’s class with his Skip the Dishes tarp, but close.

“Really fun experience, really personable (people to work with). I wasn’t too nervous,” he said.

He’s in a suit with his big, wide hat.

“My buddy’s idea actually. He said why not try it. So we did one take, and another. And we liked it,” said Skinner.

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