We’re not going to bury the lede here: the Flyers trading Claude Giroux is becoming a real possibility.
The Flyers may be forced to trade their captain if things don’t turn around soon. Giroux is in the final year of his eight-year contract as the Flyers continue to struggle this season.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman had some pretty strong words about the Flyers’ current situation with Giroux and beyond when he joined The Jeff Marek Show on Thursday.
Friedman and Marek first touched on the Flyers’ situation on the whole. They came into the season with higher aspirations after an active offseason and they’ve fallen flat. It’s what a lot of people around the Flyers, fans and media alike, have been saying for a while now.
It’s time for the Flyers to finally figure out what they are and how they can begin to try to fix things.
“I think the thing with Philly is, to me, from what I’ve heard the biggest question they have is ‘What’s the honest assessment of who we are? Where are we going here? We made some big moves and they still haven’t paid off yet,’” Friedman said.
“Hart, after the first game against Vancouver, was dynamite and they still got into trouble.” Friedman continued. “I think that leaves you a lot of questions about who you are and what you are and where you’re going.”
“Does it mean you still think “OK, we’ve gotta make one other move or two other moves and we’ll be OK? Or do we have to strip it down and try to do even more?’, he said.”
Unfortunately, needing one or two moves is something that falls deaf of Flyers fans’ ears. It’s something that they’ve dealt with for years now and are sick of hearing. Being a few years away has run stale and a full-fledged rebuild may be in order. But the Flyers aren’t fully there; at least not yet.
“I’ve heard that’s the big question in Philly: The honest philosophical discussion of where we need to go from here. And you still have time to answer those questions but you have to ask them, and from what I’ve heard those questions are definitely being asked.”
If those questions are indeed being asked, you have to think that Claude Giroux will be a part of them. Giroux is in the final year of his contract and it may be best to allow him to go chase a Stanley Cup elsewhere, which is exactly what Friedman said.
“I think Giroux — if I was to bet your mansion on it, Jeff — I would bet that Giroux gets traded. I just think they have to figure out between him and them where it’s gonna go.
I can see a situation where they say to him ‘OK, why don’t you go chase a Cup this year and we’ll figure it all out.’ I’m sure there’s going to be interest, because I think the guy has played pretty well, so I just think It’s a matter of where they decide that that’s going to be.”
It makes sense. If the Flyers continue to be out of the playoff picture as the trade deadline on March 21st inches closer, trading Giroux is a win-win for the player and team. It would allow Giroux to go try to win a Stanley Cup with a contender and it should bring the Flyers a pretty nice trade package in return.
Back in April, Giroux said that he wants to finish his career with the Flyers. And just last month, Giroux was still putting his future on the backburner, saying that he’s “not worried about that right now.”
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The Flyers owe it to Giroux to let him chase a Stanley Cup elsewhere
While it would be tough — heartbreaking to some — to see Giroux traded, it may become reality sooner than expected. Giroux has become an all-time Flyers great that carried undeserving teams to the playoffs throughout the 2010s.
There’ll be plenty of time to reflect on Giroux’s legacy, so let’s get back into Friedman and an interesting tidbit that he dropped.
Marek brought up Ivan Provorov and what he’s become since Matt Niskanen retired. Friedman agreed and has even heard Provorov’s name in potential trade talks.
“I think there’s conversation there about ‘Let’s be honest. Where are we and what do we really think we have to do?’ I think obviously Giroux is one of those conversations because time dictates that it has to be and I have no doubt that Provorov is another. No doubt,” Friedman said.
Trading Provorov, who is in the midst of one of the worst seasons in his career, could be selling low — but it also could be trading him before his value drops even lower. Still, you’d have to think that trading Provorov would come after Giroux and as part of a much larger rebuild.
The Flyers have a lot of questions for this season and the rest of the 2020s. What they decide to do with Claude Giroux could go a long way in answering them.
