Tampa Bay Lightning: 2 Underrated Players To Watch

The NHL has so many underrated players who deserve far more recognition. In this segment, we will be discussing two from every team in the league. Their overall roles and abilities may differ, but they all share the common theme that they are not as respected as they ought to be.

For full transparency, two teams will be randomly picked from a wheel each day. The winners will then be discussed.

In this piece, we will be looking at the Tampa Bay Lightning. Although they have plenty of superstars on their roster, they also have very solid depth players who deserve some time in the limelight. These two in particular could be due for big seasons.

Mathieu Joseph RW: With the Lightning having so many departures this off-season, a lot of their depth players should be given bigger opportunities this upcoming season. Mathieu Joseph is one player who could benefit greatly from this. The 24-year-old winger has had success offensively in a limited role. In 56 games this past season, he scored 12 goals and recorded 19 points. He may have the ability to become a 20-goal scorer over an 82-game schedule if given more minutes. Thus, fans should keep a closer eye on him because of that.

Anthony Cirelli C: The Lightning have Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos leading their offense. However, one other forward who is also a very important part to the Lightning is Anthony Cirelli. He works perfectly on both the penalty kill and power play because of his well-balanced game. In 50 games this past season, his stats were a bit down, as he had nine goals and 22 points. However, his 2019-20 season should be more of what we see from him moving forward. In 68 games, he scored 16 goals and added 28 assists, so he can be a stronger scoring threat. Expect to see production like that again this upcoming season.