How Will You Remember Claude Giroux?
On Thursday, March 17, in a season full of more lows than highs, the Flyers came back to defeat the Nashville Predators. They also celebrated Captain Claude Giroux’s 1000th career both in the National Hockey League and as a Flyer. There was a pregame ceremony featuring Giroux’s family and Flyers legends celebrating the historic milestone, every Flyer event wore a special patch marking the occasion.
Not only was it a crowning milestone for one of the best players in Flyers history, but most knew it was most likely a farewell to the Captain. Just a few days later Giroux was traded to the Florida Panthers, for Winger Owen Tippett, a 2024 1st round pick and a 2023 2nd round pick. The Panthers are one of the top teams in the Eastern conference and have a shot at the Stanley Cup this year, giving Giroux the chance to play in the Finals for the first time since 2010.
With the Claude Giroux Era officially over the question now is: How will you remember Claude Giroux? As a player who gave Flyers fans hope throughout the 2010s but couldn’t take them back to the heights that they did in 2010 when he was a young player surrounded by a magical team? Or as the one bright spot during an era where the Flyers transitioned from consistently contending to being constantly mediocre?
That’s up for the fans and those who watched G to decide. The rotating cast of players, goalies, coaches, executives and Comcast taking over the franchise following the passing of Ed Snider certainly didn’t help Giroux’s quest to lift the Cup. Perhaps the reason why Giroux had his fair share of critics over the years (a fairly small amount compared to the leaders of the other big three Philly sports teams) is because they saw how well he played in the 2012 playoff series against the Penguins, inspiring the possibility that he’ll overtake Sidney Crosby as one of dominant players in the league. That of course did not happen and the Crosby’s Penguins pretty much dominated the rivalry for the rest of the decade, winning two more Cups along the way.
Could the adulation given to Giroux following that 2012 series have been too soon? Fans, coaches, the press and even the NHL13 video game anointed him as the league’s next great player, around that time in which he was named team captain. But instead of a stretch of multiple MVPs and conference final berths it was a rollercoaster of mostly average play from the team and very good playing from G. Maybe since Philadelphia has been looking for another hockey star like Eric Lindros they latched onto Giroux when it looks like he was going to become that.
While G may not have been a lightning rod star like Lindros, he played a lot longer than him, and his consistency was celebrated by becoming the 2nd Flyer ever to play 1000 games for the team. The other guy was the same person who forgot his name as they were about to draft him:
Over time the frustrations and disappointments will fade and the good times will remain. So thank you Giroux, and go get that Cup!