Tampa Bay Lightning ready to run it back after re-signing rising star Anthony Cirelli

Tampa Bay Lightning’s biggest offseason task is complete after signing Anthony Cirelli to an extension.

It was announced today that the Tampa Bay Lightning have extended RFA forward Anthony Cirelli to a three-year, $14,400,000 contract which carries an Average Annual Value of $4,800,000.

Cirelli’s new deal will keep him in Tampa through the 2022-23 season, where he will once again be a Restricted Free Agent.

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It has been a frantic couple of days for Tampa Bay who re-signed defensemen Erik Cernak and Jan Rutta to new deals, as well as depth forwards Mathieu Joseph and Alexander Volkov, while it was also revealed on Wednesday that superstar winger Nikita Kucherov will miss the entire 2020-21 regular season with a hip injury.

Kucherov’s plight and his presence on LTIR effectively enabled the Lightning to get a new deal with Anthony Cirelli over the finishing line and, per CapFriendly, they are now $2,191,666 over what they can spend after placing Kucherov on LTIR and will either have to make a trade or put someone on waivers in order to be cap compliant by opening night on Jan. 13, 2021.

However, re-signing Cirelli to a new deal was a top priority for General Manager Julien BriseBois heading into the offseason, and it is now mission accomplished with the Tampa Bay Lightning effectively bringing everyone back from the team that won the 2019-20 Stanley Cup back in the summer.

Cirelli is arguably one of the most important pieces on this Tampa roster, though, and he’s rapidly developing into one of the best two-way centers in the National Hockey League right now.

Drawing early comparisons to Boston Bruins icon Patrice Bergeron, Cirelli is established as a high-end second-line forward for the Lightning, forming a lethal one-two punch down the middle behind Brayden Point.

Since being drafted with the 72nd overall pick in the Third Round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, the 23-year-old has developed rapidly and he’s coming off a career-year in 2019-20.

In 68 regular season games for the Lightning, Cirelli recorded 16 goals and 28 assists for a career-high 44 points, to go along with a +28 rating which tied for the team lead and fifth in the NHL in plus / minus.

Cirelli also set a new career-high in power play points (5) and he led Tampa Bay in faceoffs (914) and faceoff wins (434), in addition to ranking fifth among all NHL forwards for average shorthanded time on ice per game with 2:49.

Furthermore, the left shot racked up 47 blocked shots, 89 hits and 53 Takeaways and finished fourth in Selke Trophy voting as a result.

He also elevated his game on the biggest stage, recording nine points (3 G, 6 A), 32 blocked shots, 99 hits and 22 Takeaways in 25 postseason games while averaging 20:08 of ATOI to help Tampa Bay win the Stanley Cup.

Plus, you just have to study this Tweet from The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn below to get a better understanding of just how good Cirelli is, and why the Tampa Bay Lightning are paying him $4.8 million per year for the next three years:

To put it simply, Cirelli is still vastly underpaid based on his current body of work, his on-ice value to his team and also his future projections.

Should Cirelli continue on his current trajectory, then he boasts the skill set and all the intangibles needed to morph into one of the most dominant two-way centers in the game.

And, if that begins to happen during the course of this three-year contract, then Cirelli will once again be vastly underpaid and will be in line for another huge payday in the summer of 2023.

Cirelli can now report to Training Camp safe in the knowledge that he’s being paid well for his services, but he will also be aware that another leap in his play will lead to more riches further down the road.

For Tampa Bay, this bridge deal makes a lot of sense and they were able to get one of their most important pieces of offseason business done thanks in large to Nikita Kucherov going on the LTIR.

Granted, they will still need to clear around $2 million in salary either through waivers or a trade in order to get cap compliant by the start of the 2020-21 NHL season, but that is certainly a more manageable number.

The most important thing, however, is that Anthony Cirelli is going nowhere and the rising star will be critical to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s hopes of repeating this upcoming season, which makes this deal a home run given what was at stake if an agreement couldn’t be reached.