I know we think this but...does he?
Ceci plays a team high 40%(!!!) of his ice time against elites. And is a +8 against elites 5v5. 48% Corsi, his dangerous fenwick stats (the ones puckiq uses) is 47% which is worst out of our top 4 d. So I don't think he necessarily gets his head kicked in vs elites, numbers don't quite show that, but playing 40% of his icetime against them is far too much and more of that needs to be shared down the lineup.
Hopefully with Ekholm, the second pairing can take more of that. Cause as is, our #2 LHD Kulak, only plays 26% of his time.
Weirdly enough, our best regular defender against Elites have been Bouchard and he has played 17% of his time against them (Barrie was playing 23%)
I wonder if we don't run Nurse - Ceci, Ekholm-Bouchard and Drop Nurse and Cecis time against elites and give some more of it to Ekholms pair. Looking at the stats I think less tough icetime for Ceci, and he can still easily play on the top pairing, but just not as much as he currently is.