Key for me is take these guys later in the draft. Let them perculate as long as you can
Ceci looked like he had everything you'd want..One big IF never panned out for him.
Injuries really derailed Cowen. I thought he had potential when he was drafted and early on.
Yep Cowen before and after injury (well, he had several but the 2012-13 injury really affected his fundamentals) was not the same player. When you don't have the same physical tools and lost mobility/quickness, you end up hesitating and second guessing which can be fatal in the NHL. Only players with well above average hockey IQ can survive in the NHL being slower than average (ex : Mark Stone without elite hockey IQ would probably not be a NHL player). Also look at Michalek before and after knee injuries. He was a mini Pavel Bure with the Sharks bulldozing his way through defenses with speed and force. He was still pretty fast after injuries but lost his elite elusivness so he had to adapt and become somewhat of a different player.
Regarding Ceci, things were looking good before Boucher who for some reason (well, mostly because of the lack of tools given by the team and its budget) made him one of the most utilized shutdown D-man in the NHL. Before Boucher, he was playing under 20 mins per game, was producing more and didn't have heavy dZS%. Well, it's not exactly true because the trend started in 2015-16 but he was still being somewhat sheltered under 20 mins a game with vets playing in front of him. He was allowed to be more offensive and scored 10 goals and 14 assists at EVEN STRENGTH in 2015-16, which is pretty good. Then Boucher came. His confidence has been shattered since (important factor in the NHL) so it's up to him to reinvent himself and simplify his game.
Making a top shutdown D-man was like asking a relief pitcher to become your N.1 starting pitcher... chances are that it will fail miserably. Again another proof you can't cut the corners in the NHL and invest as much as possible to not ask your players to be more than what they are.
I believe Ceci would do fine on a team with a strong established defense using him as its 5th D-man and giving him a more reasonable contract. The Preds should look for that and play him behind Josi, Ellis, Ekholm and Fabbro and bump Tinordi, Santini and/or Weber (UFA) out of the lineup.