Cirelli: Lightning Are Well Rested And ‘Ready To Go’

"You never want to lose, but it's nice to get some extra time and be ready to go for next season. We're excited."

For the first time since 2019, the Lightning have been able to experience a long offseason after being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. The team has had their fair share of deep cup runs. Together they’ve played a total of 77 postseason games since July of 2020. That’s 16 more than the next closest team, the Vegas Golden Knights. 

"We played a lot of games in that span, but that's no excuse, really," Cirelli said this week after competing in a celebrity ball hockey game at the National Bank Open tennis tournament. 

"We were intent on going deep again."

The willpower was there, but sometimes your body has other plans.

Following the conclusion of the season, the players have admitted that while it was incredibly difficult to lose, the offseason break has been necessary to heal their bodies and get back to training properly before the upcoming season. Nikita Kucherov has been back on the ice 5-6 days a week. 

"Obviously, a bit of a longer summer, so it gives guys a chance to rest here, a chance to get into the gym and work on some things we haven't been able to in the past," Cirelli said. 

"You never want to lose, but it's nice to get some extra time and be ready to go for next season. We're excited."

The Lightning said goodbye to several veteran pieces this summer. Together, the five departing players combined for 12 Stanley Cup final appearances and seven rings. For General Manager Julien BriseBois, keeping the core players together was the key to putting the Lightning back in contention for another Stanley Cup. Names like Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Mikhail Sergachev, Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy. 

Now they’ll move forward with several new faces and the same expectation; to win. 

Cirelli believes general manager Julien BriseBois deserves credit for keeping Tampa Bay competitive.

"I mean, obviously it always [stinks] losing guys," he said. "That's the reality of it: It's a business. Stuff like that happens, but we're staying the course. Julien has brought in guys like [forward] Conor Sheary, so that's going to help.”

"Guys come in and guys come out. That's part of the game. They've done a good job replacing the pieces that left, but that doesn't take away from our excitement.”

"We're really excited and ready to go for the season."

The Lightning will host the Nashville Predators at Amalie Arena on October 10th to kick off their season.