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Claude Giroux Rocks the All-Star Game: Now What? |
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Well here in Philadelphia this one was sweet, but definitely hurt a little...
Whenever Claude Giroux's name was mentioned over the past weekend it was mentioned with, "Will he be a Flyer for long" being attached to it. The long-standing captain of the Flyers is front and center in trade rumors for the first time ever and then he went out and was named the MVP of the All-Star game.
I live in the Philly area so my phone exploded all through the game with texts from friends saying, "We can't trade Giroux...He is not the problem....tell me we aren't going to trade Claude..."
While it is true Giroux is NOT the problem and from the moment he put on the Orange and Black he has NEVER been a problem. He has always had extremely underrated skills and he has always performed in his quiet manner. He is the worst self promoter and that has cost him some more national attention and also kept him off of a few Team Canadas that he should have been a huge part of.
Many out there are saying that Philly needs to follow the Minnesota Wild model that Bill Guerin has perfected. Move out the older players who own the room so the new guys can get some of their own sense of being the top dogs. In Minnesota that was why Parise and Suter were bought out...Why Erik Staal was traded...Why Mikko Koivu wasn't brought back. The results in Minnesota have been remarkable and the Wild are now among the best in the NHL.
In Philly, Voracek was traded in the same way...But Giroux is different...Especially different than Suter and Parise. I've spent enough time around USA hockey to know Parise and Suter are dominant characters on a team. They demand the room and they also run VERY hot and cold. When they are down they can both get negative. Giroux is pretty much the opposite of Parise or Suter. He is quiet and even. He isn't the kind of player that would make a Konecny or a Farabee feel intimidated to step up and say something.. Giroux is the kind of captain who proves it on the ice and not with speaches.
If you move Giroux at the deadline you do so simply because the price is great and following the All-Star MVP weekend the price will likely never be greater. Some have hinted that the Flyers could still re-sign him in the summer after he has gotten his shot at a Cup somewhere else, but we all know that almost never happens....And the Flyers cap situation is going to make that extremely hard as it is...
I should say that with Claude....maybe he would return in the summer when he hits free agency. I do believe the Flyers will be in the talks and he really does love the area. This reminds me a bit of the rumors we heard for years about Joe Thornton in San Jose. Thornton loved being a Shark and did turn down plenty of bigger offers to remain a Shark. Claude and Joe are two people I have been lucky enough to get to know and there are some similarities...
Eventually, Joe did move on, but not until he was a lot older than Claude is now. The Sharks were always in the playoffs though and never could have moved him at the deadline and re-signed him in the summer. They might have had they found themselves in that position. The one player I remember doing this was Keith Tkachuk in St Louis. It does happen...but rarely.
The Flyers and Claude have yet to officially sit down and have THE TALK, but I do believe there have been a few messages through a few others, because the Flyers seem to feel Claude will waive his NMC to accept a trade. However, that truly may just be conjecture. "G" is the kind of guy who, until he says something officially to them, could always surprise you and go with his heart and stay.
He made it known several times in Vegas how proud he was to be representing the Flyers, and with Claude that is not just "player speak." He is frustrated with what's gone down in Philly over the last two years, for sure, but he is still a Flyer. I have never gotten any sense that he has checked out at all.
So what now?
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