Player Discussion: Anthony Cirelli

[LightningStrikes]

 

[DFC]

3rd round pick, but not as good as Brayden Point, so clearly the Lightning don't draft and develop better than most teams.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

anotha one!

 

[Hinterland]

I think he's gonna be better than Point. May never quite reach Point's production but he's gonna be able to dominate physically and in terms of faceoffs. He's also even more reliable than Point. Great 1/2 punch the Bolts have here. I'd hand Cirelli 2C and put Stamkos on his wing.

Gourde, Point, Joseph
Miller, Cirelli, Stamkos
Palat, Johnson, Kucherov
Killorn/Erne/Martel, Paquette, Callahan

...for example.

 

[Sky04]

I think he's gonna be better than Point. May never quite reach Point's production but he's gonna be able to dominate physically and in terms of faceoffs. He's also even more reliable than Point. Great 1/2 punch the Bolts have here. I'd hand Cirelli 2C and put Stamkos on his wing.

Gourde, Point, Joseph
Miller, Cirelli, Stamkos
Palat, Johnson, Kucherov
Killorn/Erne/Martel, Paquette, Callahan

...for example.

Oh God..

 

[LonLon Lei]

also props to Coop for trusting young kids like him, Joseph, Cernak etc..
The majority of the NHL coaches just favor vets and not good at raising young ones.

Cirelli wasn't playing bad but couldn't do much on the scoreboard for the 1st 10-15 games or so. I was honestly thinking earlier well, he might be sent down because of that.

I don't think other teams know how good he is now.

 

[LightningStrikes]

also props to Coop for trusting young kids like him, Joseph, Cernak etc..
The majority of the NHL coaches just favor vets and not good at raising young ones.

Cirelli wasn't playing bad but couldn't do much on the scoreboard for the 1st 10-15 games or so. I was honestly thinking earlier well, he might be sent down because of that.

I don't think other teams know how good he is now.

Cooper was the same way, good thing he learned.

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[Hinterland]

also props to Coop for trusting young kids like him, Joseph, Cernak etc..
The majority of the NHL coaches just favor vets and not good at raising young ones.

Cirelli wasn't playing bad but couldn't do much on the scoreboard for the 1st 10-15 games or so. I was honestly thinking earlier well, he might be sent down because of that.

I don't think other teams know how good he is now.

He was never gonna get sent down. He's Cooper's go to guy for PK and defensive zone starts. He's one of the reasons why the Bolts PK is currently this good and he allows Cooper to use Point in a more offensive role. Last season it was Point logging the toughest minutes so Cirelli is really key for this team.

 

[Sky04]

He was never gonna get sent down. He's Cooper's go to guy for PK and defensive zone starts. He's one of the reasons why the Bolts PK is currently this good and he allows Cooper to use Point in a more offensive role. Last season it was Point logging the toughest minutes so Cirelli is really key for this team.

Hint: Point is still logging tough minutes and tougher than last years.

 

[Hinterland]

Hint: Point is still logging tough minutes and tougher than last years.

Fake news. He doesn't even play PK anymore.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

He's shown incredible growth from the player he was at the end of last season to now where he's making plays every night. He's becoming the defensive and 2-way wizard he was in the ohl/wjc.

A confident and experienced Cirelli makes us soo much stronger down the middle with Point and Stammer and a few other guys who can be interchangable. 2018-19 stammer-point-cirelli > 2017-18 stammer-point-cirelli

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[DFC]

Fake news. He doesn't even play PK anymore.

He's still our match-up center. Coop is trying to flatten the minutes out. Our top guys play fewer minutes than top guys elsewhere. It's a good position to be in. Those minutes add up over a season.

 

[Sky04]

Fake news. He doesn't even play PK anymore.

Oh I forgot PKing meant "hard minutes" not matching up against the other teams top lines night in and out.

Killorn must play harder minutes than Point , don't forget about Joseph too.

 

[RegularSznAllStars]

I think he's gonna be better than Point. May never quite reach Point's production but he's gonna be able to dominate physically and in terms of faceoffs. He's also even more reliable than Point. Great 1/2 punch the Bolts have here. I'd hand Cirelli 2C and put Stamkos on his wing.

Gourde, Point, Joseph
Miller, Cirelli, Stamkos
Palat, Johnson, Kucherov
Killorn/Erne/Martel, Paquette, Callahan

...for example.

Oh no. I don’t think cirelli will ever dominate physically, he weighs about 170. He will outwork everyone on the ice though.

Point is the better player, no doubt. Cirelli will be a very good 3C. Does absolutely everything well.

 

[Rschmitz]

Definitely our best shutdown center. He's pretty good at faceoffs too, though I hope as he matures he can get even better at it as that is one of the most important attributes for the role he's in.

 

[Sky04]

Definitely our best shutdown center. He's pretty good at faceoffs too, though I hope as he matures he can get even better at it as that is one of the most important attributes for the role he's in.

Point is our shutdown center, Cirelli isn't really in that role. You would argue Paquette next not Cirellli. Cooper has specifically used Point on the hardest matchups, Cirelli's line an energy line, are you guys confusing him on the PK with ES? Cirelli plays with Joseph and Killorn neither of which are "shutdown" players.

 

[Hinterland]

Point is our shutdown center, Cirelli isn't really in that role. You would argue Paquette next not Cirellli. Cooper has specifically used Point on the hardest matchups, Cirelli's line an energy line, are you guys confusing him on the PK with ES? Cirelli plays with Joseph and Killorn neither of which are "shutdown" players.

You're not gonna make it any better if you keep repeating your fake news. Paquette and Cirelli are getting the defensive starts while Stamkos and Point get the offensive starts whenever possible. Both Joseph and Killorn are excellent defensively and regularly used to kill penalties.

 

[The Macho King]

I dont recall anyone being so aggressively and proudly wrong.

For the record, Point has 51% dzone starts.

 

[Hinterland]

I dont recall anyone being so aggressively and proudly wrong.

For the record, Point has 51% dzone starts.

Correct. And only Stamkos has less

 

[Rschmitz]

Point is our shutdown center, Cirelli isn't really in that role. You would argue Paquette next not Cirellli. Cooper has specifically used Point on the hardest matchups, Cirelli's line an energy line, are you guys confusing him on the PK with ES? Cirelli plays with Joseph and Killorn neither of which are "shutdown" players.

This was a point of discussion on Lightning radio the other night before the Colorado game, because we were going up against the top line in hockey. Who would go up against the Mackinnon line? Point is out there against the other teams top lines, because he's great defensively and he's overall the better center. We can call him a shutdown center, but the idea is to blunt as much of the opposing teams offense while providing more of your own. Cirelli on the other hand is going out there with the primary purpose of shutting down the opposing teams lines, and chip in offensively if possible. Cirelli has a better +/- than he does goals, that's a good indicator that he is doing his job well.

The consensus was that Point is out there to shutdown the opposing teams top line, but Cirelli was the go to shutdown center, and I agree with that assessment. Cirelli is better defensively. Calling his line an energy line when they get a few less minutes per game is out of touch with their role.

 

[Sky04]

You're not gonna make it any better if you keep repeating your fake news. Paquette and Cirelli are getting the defensive starts while Stamkos and Point get the offensive starts whenever possible. Both Joseph and Killorn are excellent defensively and regularly used to kill penalties.

Cirelli and Paquette are getting defensive starts as would as other 3rd and 4th line center on any team doesn't make them shutdown players LOL arguing zone starts is pretty damn stupid.

You know why they get defensive zone starts? Because the other 2 lines are better at scoring but then again you have Cirelli at center over Stamkos so that about says enough.

 

[Hinterland]

Cirelli and Paquette are getting defensive starts as would as other 3rd and 4th line center on any team doesn't make them shutdown players LOL arguing zone starts is pretty damn stupid.

You know why they get defensive zone starts? Because the other 2 lines are better at scoring but then again you have Cirelli at center over Stamkos so that about says enough.

That's also nonsense but please keep going
In SJ, Hertl and Couture are getting the most defensive zone starts, in Carolina, Staal does just the same. In LA, Kopitar is getting almost as many defensive zone starts as Thompson. There are lots of other examples.

Cooper should have moved Stamkos to the wing long ago. He's not an elite playmaker/passer anymore. He's a goal scorer.
Look how it helped Giroux. He experienced new highs playing on Couturier's wing when everybody thought he was pretty much done.

 

[DFC]

You're not gonna make it any better if you keep repeating your fake news. Paquette and Cirelli are getting the defensive starts while Stamkos and Point get the offensive starts whenever possible. Both Joseph and Killorn are excellent defensively and regularly used to kill penalties.

You're somehow thinking an offensive line can't be a shutdown line, because offensive lines wind up with a lot of Ozone starts mixed in.

Point is obviously the team's shutdown center. Whatever the opponent's big line is, Coop matches Point against them. Nights where Point is relatively quiet, like last game, are often nights when he has his hands full. On nights where we match a second line, it's usually Paquette/Callahan who get the assignment.

None of that means Cirelli is bad defensively. But Point has emerged as a future Selke contender and Paquette is having the season of his life.