With the Florida Panthers now swept out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, many questions will arise this offseason about the future of this year’s Presidents’ Trophy winners. One of those questions will be the future of forward Claude Giroux, who the Panthers acquired at the Trade Deadline. The longtime captain of the Philadelphia Flyers was moved for what many viewed as an underwhelming return, and despite Florida’s early elimination, Giroux performed with renewed vigor on a better team. He had eight points in 10 playoff games but piled up assists in the regular season, notching 20 in 18 games with the Panthers. He still managed 42 points in 57 games with the Flyers prior to the trade on a massively struggling team, too. His eight-year extension that kicked in prior to 2014-15 is now expiring, and Giroux could hit unrestricted free agency for the first time in his 15-year career.
Giroux has already stated his desire to return to South Florida if the opportunity arises. However, with the worst year of the Keith Yandle buyout hitting the Panthers next season, the team has just under $4MM in projected cap space for the 2022-23 season, according to CapFriendly. That’s already an impossible number to sign Giroux unless he takes a serious old-man discount, but the team also has a handful of roster spots to fill on both forward and defense. The team could likely opt to trade Patric Hornqvist (with a limited no-trade clause) and the final year of his $5.3MM cap hit, though, which could seriously open the door for a Giroux return.
If Giroux can’t work out a return to the Panthers organization, though, teams will come prepared with serious offers for his services. The 34-year-old can still be counted on for at least 20 goals and 65/70 points in a full season, and he remains a very good defensive presence and faceoff man. Giroux is still boasting a streak of five seasons above a 55 percent mark in the faceoff circle, and although his skill set is now best used on the wing, he’s still valuable as a faceoff specialist. It’s hard to imagine Giroux receiving less than $6MM or $7MM, although a four-year term is likely an extreme maximum for Giroux at this point.
His hometown Ottawa Senators have been constantly linked to Giroux over the past few years, and the team hasn’t been quiet about their desire to improve this offseason drastically. With the team boasting nearly $25MM in cap space this offseason, they have the room and then some to make that sort of acquisition.
Is a return to the Flyers in the cards? It’s doubtful. Giroux hasn’t made a Stanley Cup Final in 12 years and he doesn’t have a ring. It’s that fact that makes it seem like a discount to stay in a team on the rise in Florida would make the most sense for Giroux. However, if the Senators play their cards right and their prospects develop properly, they could be in a position to win Cups by the end of a Giroux contract as well. Other teams in contending positions may not have the cap space to afford Giroux’s services, but it’s much too early to eliminate that scenario.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
As I’ve said before, unless he really wants to go there, PHI letting Claude waste the rest of his career in Ottawa would be tragic.
does 28 go to the rafters without the championship?
think that nowadays the 1000 gp gets it for him. however theres a few excluded players from philly that i would think deserved the honour that are still outside looking in
nvmnd. just saw they retired lindros so giroux is a shoe in
Why would Giroux leading Ottawa to the promised land be tragic?
Shoo-in not shoe-in. Have you see the Flyers win the Stanley Cup?
mario: not in my lifetime
i remember the arguments from flyers fans against propp or gagne or lindros etc for there numbers retired because they didnt bernie parant or bobby clarke the stanley cup. wondering if flyers fans feel them same way about giroux
as far as the shoe shoo shew in thing 10th grade USA education. appreciate the tip
A guy making a bunch of money to play hockey would be tragic? You seem to be taking this stuff a bit too seriously or you don’t know the definition of tragic.
let alone that Ottawa seems to be a few vets like CG away from turning the corner
because OTT sucks and isn’t sniffing a cup anytime soon
I don’t understand why Dallas is not considered as a destination for Claude??? They have the D and goalie, and are only a couple pieces short of being a serious contender. We all know that Cup teams are built from the back end out!
Dallas does make sense: an aging team that either has to go for it or blow it up, and the cap space to give Giroux what he’d want.
LA makes a lot of sense.
I’ll be quite content to see “the best player in the world” go ringless.
Once Forsberg leaves Nashville (very likely at this point), Poile will flail around trying to replace him. I’m sure Girioux will get a call.
Did not seem to contribute a whole lot in Florida
That’s a joke right? 23 pts in 18 regular season games and 8 pts in 10 playoff games