Cirelli signs entry level contract with Tampa
Oshawa Generals’ captain Anthony Cirelli has just signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Roger Hunt, Oshawa’s GM, says he expects Cirelli will once again be playing as a General this upcoming season.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
In just a few short years, Oshawa Generals captain Anthony Cirelli has moved from midget hockey to Memorial Cup hero. Now, he has taken the next step, penning himself an entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The three-year entry level deal is the culmination of a dizzying pair of seasons for Cirelli, who before making his way on to the roster last season, was overlooked in two consecutive OHL drafts.
When he was invited to the Gens’ orientation camp at the beginning of the 2014/2015 season, he caught the eye of both former head coach DJ Smith and general manager Roger Hunt.
“It’s a great story that we all love telling, because what a great kid he is and the truth of it,” Hunt says.
It needs no “salt and pepper,” as Hunt puts it – and he was right.
In a little over a year, Cirelli, a six-foot, 161-pound centreman, went from playing midget hockey with the Mississauga Reps, to being signed as a free agent with the Gens, to his crowning achievement in Quebec City at the Mastercard Memorial Cup.
With the Gens down a goal in the second period against the Kelowna Rockets, Cirelli took a pass in the neutral zone before coasting in to lift a beautiful wrist shot past Rockets’ netminder Jackson Whistle to tie the game. Then, less than two minutes into overtime , Cirelli would be on the doorstep when a rebound would find its way onto his stick and into the back of the net. It is a goal that will go down in hockey history, sealing Oshawa’s fifth Memorial Cup championship – the most of any active team – and the club’s first in 25 years.
“It shows an incredible amount of perseverance, it shows the type of family he’s from. He could have quit, he could have made a case for being hard done by but he didn’t,” Hunt says. “He continued to work and continued to develop and he’s really probably our hardest worker that we have and it shows.”
Cirelli followed his rookie season up by nabbing an invite to the NHL combine one short week after his Memorial Cup championship before being selected 72nd overall in the third round by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
With the Generals this season, Cirelli was named captain following the departure of Michael Dal Colle in a trade with the Kingston Frontenacs. He would go on to lead the team in assists and points. Following Oshawa’s first round departure from the playoffs, Cirelli went on to play his first pro game with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, the minor league affiliate of the Lightning. He also faced off against a familiar face in that game, as the club was up against the Utica Comets, the current club of former Gen and Vancouver Canucks draft pick Cole Cassels.
“He continued to work and continued to develop and he’s really probably our hardest worker that we have and it shows,” Hunt says. “He’ll be a guy we’ll be watching on TV in the NHL in the next few years.”
Gens fans need not worry though – the 19-year-old captain will more than likely be back in Oshawa next season.
“I don’t think it’ll change anything for us,” Hunt says. “The likelihood, for his development, is for him to play with the Gens again next year. I think we’re going to do everything we can to help and aid in his development and it’s exciting whenever this happens.”