The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Ceci from the Ottawa Senators on July 1, 2019. He was the centerpiece return of a trade that saw fan-favorite Connor Brown and the much-lambasted Nikita Zaitsev (and all of his horrendous contract) head the other way.
It was a price worth paying at the time; a versatile forward who was pushed down the depth chart into a fourth-liner and Zaitsev, who had simply become a contract the Leafs could not afford to keep, in exchange for a former first-round pick who could perhaps go through a bit of a career resurrection with the change in scenery.