Player Discussion: Anthony Cirelli

[EmptyNetAssassin]

I love Cirelli becausse he play my kind of hockey, but he isn't worth the contract. He is overpaid by one to two million, but he is an elite 3rd line center/borderline shutdown2nd line center. As of right now it doesn't even matter becauase we have at least 6,000,000 in cap space not being used. So he is our second line center/shutdown center. He reminds me of a lot of Penguins fan talked about Staal. HE was too good for the bottom 6 at times, but not good enough for the top 6 at times. He is just a really smart player, hard working player, and is limited by his skill set not his compete level.

 

[Renopucker]

I love Cirelli becausse he play my kind of hockey, but he isn't worth the contract. He is overpaid by one to two million, but he is an elite 3rd line center/borderline shutdown2nd line center. As of right now it doesn't even matter becauase we have at least 6,000,000 in cap space not being used. So he is our second line center/shutdown center. He reminds me of a lot of Penguins fan talked about Staal. HE was too good for the bottom 6 at times, but not good enough for the top 6 at times. He is just a really smart player, hard working player, and is limited by his skill set not his compete level.

That pretty much summarizes my thinking and most of us on this board. I mean, you can’t diss his compete level or his defensive play. And you can’t blame him for the contract that was offered, and signed.

 

[Soul Assumption]

19 points in 18 games so far. If he keeps this up, I think he can be considered a legit top 6 center and we won't talk about overpayment anymore.

 

[These Are The Days]

19 points in 18 games so far. If he keeps this up, I think he can be considered a legit top 6 center and we won't talk about overpayment anymore.

His trade protection kicks in this summer. Fella is literally playing for his job

 

[Soul Assumption]

His trade protection kicks in this summer. Fella is literally playing for his job

Maybe you're right and he just doesn't want to end up in Buffalo. But i hope he can be at least a 60 point player

 

[These Are The Days]

Maybe you're right and he just doesn't want to end up in Buffalo. But i hope he can be at least a 60 point player

Depending on how the season goes it could make a ton of sense to trade him for a similar haul to we got for Sergachev. I'm not saying teams are lining up to give us another Conor Geekie. I'm saying depending on who that player is... it could be a *VERY* good idea because Cirelli may very well get you something better than Geekie. JFBB should absolutely make the call. That doesn't mean trade Cirelli. It means see what is out there so you can make an informed decision about a bigger picture you didn't have before

 

[JTBF81]

Depending on how the season goes it could make a ton of sense to trade him for a similar haul to we got for Sergachev. I'm not saying teams are lining up to give us another Conor Geekie. I'm saying depending on who that player is... it could be a *VERY* good idea because Cirelli may very well get you something better than Geekie. JFBB should absolutely make the call. That doesn't mean trade Cirelli. It means see what is out there so you can make an informed decision about a bigger picture you didn't have before

They made the decision when they traded Serg. Cirelli is a key member of the core moving forward. Tampa's C depth is well positioned now for the next 4 or 5 years at least with Point-Cirelli-Paul/Geekie, and none of them should be traded while the team is still going for Cups imo.

 

[OffBy1]

They made the decision when they traded Serg. Cirelli is a key member of the core moving forward. Tampa's C depth is well positioned now for the next 4 or 5 years at least with Point-Cirelli-Paul/Geekie, and none of them should be traded while the team is still going for Cups imo.

Serge was a key member until they decided he wasn't. If you can trade one guy you signed to an 8 year deal, you can trade another. I don't think it's going to happen though. I also don't think Cirelli is suddenly blossoming into a regular point per game player either. He and Hagel are both off to great starts and it's good to see. I think once Geekie really establishes himself at center, Paul will be shifted to wing.

 

[These Are The Days]

It took about 20 games for me to realize choosing Serge over McDonagh was a mistake. It didn't matter if he was in year 3 or year 6, every time he f***ed up the foot stomping started and we got

Goes and does it AGAIN


.

I'm not saying he was a bad player but he was never corner stone we needed.



This may be the best Cirelli has ever played and anything less than this is going to be unacceptable going forward for what we are paying him

 

[Sky04]

Cirelli isn't any more core than Sergachev and definitely expendable except right now he's playing well and actually has value to the team.

Anyone with a brain saw Sergachev was redundant on this team, add his contract in and he was the obvious choice to ship out if you wanted to upgrade the team. There's no one fighting for Cirellli's spot right now, the only reason to trade him is for an upgrade.

 

[JTBF81]

Serge was a key member until they decided he wasn't. If you can trade one guy you signed to an 8 year deal, you can trade another. I don't think it's going to happen though. I also don't think Cirelli is suddenly blossoming into a regular point per game player either. He and Hagel are both off to great starts and it's good to see. I think once Geekie really establishes himself at center, Paul will be shifted to wing.

Serg was expendable because of Hedman and then reacquiring McD (or had they traded for Hanifin-in any case it seemed as though the writing was on tbe wall for Serg in Tampa). His contract was also severely limiting the team's ability to make other more needed moves. Cirelli's contract wasn't as bad, and he plays a more important position on the team relative to overall depth and positional need. He likely doesn't maintain ppg, but the combo of him, Hagel, and one of Paul/Geekie certainly makes it a possibility.

 

[JTBF81]

Cirelli isn't any more core than Sergachev and definitely expendable except right now he's playing well and actually has value to the team.

Anyone with a brain saw Sergachev was redundant on this team, add his contract in and he was the obvious choice to ship out if you wanted to upgrade the team. There's no one fighting for Cirellli's spot right now, the only reason to trade him is for an upgrade.

Except they protected Cirelli in the expansion draft, have solidified him as the 2C, and didn't look at replacements for him at the deadline or offseason. He's more part of tbe current and future core at an important position. He's not expendable either given C depth and the lack of any replacements in Syracuse. Neither Paul nor Geekie is a 2C, and Tampa doesn't have the F depth to be moving a top 6 F.

 

[JTBF81]

It took about 20 games for me to realize choosing Serge over McDonagh was a mistake. It didn't matter if he was in year 3 or year 6, every time he f***ed up the foot stomping started and we got

Goes and does it AGAIN


.

I'm not saying he was a bad player but he was never corner stone we needed.



This may be the best Cirelli has ever played and anything less than this is going to be unacceptable going forward for what we are paying him

Not really, as with the cap set to jump considerably in the near future, Cirelli's contract will look even better in relation to overall cap hit. Even if he doesn't maintain ppg levels throughout, if he can more consistently be a 55-65 point 2C with strong defensive play, he'll more than meet his contract aav.

 

[DFC]

Serge was a key member until they decided he wasn't. If you can trade one guy you signed to an 8 year deal, you can trade another. I don't think it's going to happen though. I also don't think Cirelli is suddenly blossoming into a regular point per game player either. He and Hagel are both off to great starts and it's good to see. I think once Geekie really establishes himself at center, Paul will be shifted to wing.

They replaced Sergachev before trading him, and saved money.

Cirelli's deal won't look bad when the cap goes up. Sergachev's was still going to look pretty bad because he wasn't well suited to the available roles.

 

[Sky04]

Except they protected Cirelli in the expansion draft, have solidified him as the 2C, and didn't look at replacements for him at the deadline or offseason. He's more part of tbe current and future core at an important position. He's not expendable either given C depth and the lack of any replacements in Syracuse. Neither Paul nor Geekie is a 2C, and Tampa doesn't have the F depth to be moving a top 6 F.

Terrible logic, they protected Sergachev also...?

 

[JTBF81]

Terrible logic, they protected Sergachev also...?

Lol, okay, and yet all my other points are correct. He's a part of the core and has been for at least a couple of seasons. As soon as Stamkos was no longer cutting it at C and Cirelli was locked in at 2C, it seemed pretty clear he was part of the long-term plan. Given that Tampa wasn't actively trying to find another C while they were trying to find a LD, and that Cirelli's contract is now and will continue to be better for the team's cap position than Sergachev's was, he wasn't really expendable for the team. Serg was redundant with both Hedman and McD around, he wasn't living up to the contract, and he brought a much better return at the time than the two non-expendable rfa signings in Cirelli and Cernak would have. Cirelli has always been good defensively, especially given his assignments, but he seems to be taking another step offensively as well. He's one of around 9 or 10 players who are part of the "core" and shouldn't be traded while Tampa is still in their contention window.

 

[JTBF81]

Cirelli is part of a group that consists of Kuch, Point, Hagel, Guentzel, Paul and Geekie among F's that shouldn't be traded anytime soon. These 7 F's make up the offensive "core" of the team for the foreseeable future. It's up to JBB and the coaching staff to find and utilize the other 5 or 6 players to complement the core. Chaffee, Ace and potentially Goncalves seem like solid bottom 6 players moving forward, while the others are still either ? or likely not with the team after the next season.