Claude Giroux Not Returning to Flyers, Re-Signs with Senators
Dec 5, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux (28) against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Claude Giroux is staying with the Ottawa Senators. The deal is done, the fairy-tale ending is off, and Flyers fans spent the night mourning a reunion that made more sense in theory than in practice.
Giroux will suit up for a 20th NHL season, his fifth in Ottawa. He’s 38 years old. Last season, he played all 82 games and put up 14 goals and 35 assists. Those numbers say he still has something left, but they also say the version of Giroux walking through the door wasn’t walking in to be “The Guy” anymore.
The Flyers had real interest. They were in the mix until the end, weighing a homecoming for the franchise’s second-most all-time points leader against a group of forwards that got a lot more crowded in a hurry. That’s the math Flyers fans don’t want to run right now.
Anaheim still hasn’t ruled on the Leo Carlsson offer sheet. The Ducks have seven days to match or lose a 21-year-old center, and however that goes, the Flyers already reshaped their middle of the lineup. Noel Acciari, a veteran right-shot center, arrived for the bottom six. Trevor Zegras is still sitting on this roster. Even without Carlsson, that group leaves little room at center. If Anaheim lets him walk, there’s none left. Add the long-term money the Flyers already committed to Tyson Foerster this offseason, and there wasn’t much runway left to make a real financial push for Giroux either. He would have been fighting for third-line minutes on a team he used to captain, buried behind players half his age, offer sheet or not.
Giroux gave the Flyers 15 seasons, 291 goals, 609 assists, and 900 points in 1,000 games. He wore the C. He dragged a roster to the Stanley Cup Playoffs on will alone some nights. A player with that resume doesn’t deserve to spend his final year scrapping for third-line minutes behind whoever’s playing center by October, Carlsson or no Carlsson. He deserves a real role, or he deserves to walk away on his own terms somewhere else. Giroux tested free agency, looked around at what Toronto and the Flyers and even Edmonton were offering, and still chose to go back to the room where he’s the guy who steadies things, not the guy fighting for a lineup spot.
Flyers fans wanted the storybook version: the one where the captain comes home, laps the ice one last time in the uniform he made his name in, rides off with the fans who never stopped loving him. That’s not what happened. The only time Philly fans will see him will be when the Senators visit Xfinity Mobile Arena.
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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