Claude Giroux’s Flyers Reunion May Hinge on Outcome of Leo Carlsson Offer Sheet
Feb 1, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux (28) skates onto the ice during introductions against the Winnipeg Jets at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
The Flyers have spent this week auditioning for two completely different vibes, and both stories are now tangled together. There’s the sentimental one: Claude Giroux, the captain who gave this franchise fifteen years and 900 points, working his way back on a new contract as a free agent. And there’s the aggressive one: a five-year, $90 million savage offer sheet fired at Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson that could reshape the roster’s entire depth chart for the next five years plus. The word out of the building is that a Giroux deal isn’t imminent, and the holdup is straightforward — the front office needs to see how the Carlsson situation resolves before it commits money anywhere else.
General manager Daniel Briere has confirmed talks are underway with Giroux, so that part isn’t a rumor. The expectation has been a one-year contract, the kind of short-term, low-risk pact that gives a 38-year-old center-turned-winger a real role without eating into future flexibility. Giroux is coming off a 49-point season in Ottawa, his lowest full-season pace in over a decade, but he still wins more than 60 percent of his faceoffs and can move the puck on a power play that badly needs leadership like his. At this point in his career, Giroux would likely not impact the cap too much, but the Carlsson situation needs to be addressed first.
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That’s where things get really complicated. An $18 million offer sheet doesn’t just affect Carlsson; it affects every other dollar this front office was planning to spend. Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale both still need new contracts, and neither of those will be cheap. Layer a $90 million center on top of that, and the room for a sentimental depth signing gets tighter fast. If Anaheim matches on Carlsson, then the lane is open to go after Giroux.
The cap math is murkier than the headline number suggests. Nolan Foote, Jett Luchanko, and Oliver Bonk look ticketed for the NHL roster on paper, while David Jiricek‘s deal gets buried in the minors. That’s likely backwards. Jiricek isn’t waiver-exempt, so burying him means losing him for nothing, which pushes him onto the NHL roster instead. Luchanko and Foote are the more likely names heading to the AHL, with Bonk possibly joining them. Get that wrong, and the cap number changes with it.
Here’s the part that should comfort Flyers fans who got their 28 jerseys from the attic: Giroux was never going to be the move that decides this offseason. He’s the story that makes people feel nostalgic, while adding leadership to the Flyers’ special teams. Carlsson is the story that changes what this team is capable of for the next five years. If the offer sheet goes through and Anaheim can’t or won’t match, the front office gets its top-line center and still has a path to make the homecoming work on a deal built for a veteran closing out his NHL career. If Anaheim matches, the front office can easily make the Giroux reunion a reality without doing complicated shuffling.
Either way, the sequencing matters more than the sentiment. Anaheim’s seven-day countdown must run down first. Giroux’s homecoming can get sorted out after that clock hits zero.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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