The Philadelphia Flyers parted ways with their longtime captain and franchise icon Claude Giroux at the 2022 trade deadline when the team was in a downward spiral. Giroux has since signed with the Ottawa Senators, who haven’t lived up to their lofty expectations they entered the 2023-24 season with. Meanwhile the Flyers are fighting for a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division and could potentially be buyers at the deadline.
Giroux failed to win a Cup with the Flyers during his first tenure with the club, but could a return to the franchise and one more kick at the can be in the cards? It’d be quite the story, but does it make sense for the Flyers to reacquire Giroux?
Pros
Giroux, who turns 36 in mid-January, still has plenty of life in his game since he left the Flyers. He scored 23 points in 18 games with the Florida Panthers, and has produced 104 points in 109 games as a member of the Senators. His 25 points in 27 games this season would be second in scoring on the Flyers currently.
Danny Briere and Giroux were very close when they played for the Flyers, the latter living with the former during his early career, and the new front office regime has proven they aren’t afraid to pander. If Giroux would actually leave Ottawa while the Flyers are riding their current high, you’d have to imagine the Flyers are at least doing their due diligence when it comes to a reunion.
Cons
The reality is we have no idea what went on behind closed doors during Giroux’s later days in Philadelphia. Was he a great leader consumed by the ever-growing mess around him? Or was his leadership the cause of the problems? Removing him just to add him back a few years later, with no leadership title, in a locker room that still features quite a few familiar faces could be all kinds of awkward, especially in the culture-based rebuild the Flyers are going for at the moment.
He won’t be a rental player until the 2025 trade deadline, which makes a little more sense if the Flyers don’t want a lengthy reunion or are afraid of potential locker room skeletons being dug up. But who knows what to expect from the standings next season. Will the Flyers still be riding their momentum? Will the Senators figure their situation out with a new head coach and an offseason to reset? It’s possible the current situations keep up, but there is a “now or never” feeling surrounding this one.
Conclusion
There is a fairytale ending here that would be the Flyers, at some point over the next few years, reacquiring Claude Giroux and he goes on to win a Cup with the team that drafted him in 2006 and he can ride off into the sunset shortly after.
According to CapFriendly, Giroux does have a full no-movement clause for this season and next, so his fate ultimately lies in his hands once again, just as it did when he left Philly two years ago.
If the Senators remain on the outside looking in, it’s very possible Giroux leaves in search of a Stanley Cup before he retires, but will the Flyers be deemed a legitimate contender over the next season or two? They may be winning some games during the 2023-24 season, but there are some major problems with the roster construction that will probably limit their postseason success, and a 36-year-old Giroux alone won’t be enough to mask them. It’d be a level of “all in” there’s just no way the organization would take on this season, or probably next either… or maybe ever at this rate.
The reality is, even if Giroux returns, it won’t be in a leadership role. He’ll be an outsider on a team that he once led. Though maybe the intangible stuff won’t matter. If the team is locked and loaded come playoff time and all eyes are on the prize, Giroux will be just another pair of hands looking to win the big one.
At the end of the day, It’s unlikely Claude Giroux suits up for the Flyers again. It just doesn’t feel like the organization will be a legitimate postseason threat before Giroux calls it a career. But admittedly, it’d be a hell of a story if Giroux returned to where it all started and finally won that elusive Stanley Cup back where it all started nearly 20 years ago. But it is worth keeping eyes on the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline, because they could be in the market for a big change or two, and Giroux is probably high on the list of players who could be moved… just not to the Philadelphia Flyers.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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