Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia has always had love affairs with certain athletes. In the past two decades there’s been the likes of Chase Utley, Brian Dawkins, Allen Iverson, Nick Foles, and Jimmy Rollins.
Claude Giroux’s career as a Philadelphia Flyer intersected each of those players. Mostly because the Flyers had been mediocre-to-sub-par for for the past decade, Giroux has always come across as maybe the most under-appreciated superstar in Philadelphia – a player with Hall of Fame credentials, minus winning the big one, who just happened to mostly play for teams that weren’t good enough to do much of anything.
Well that career came to a culmination Thursday. Giroux played in his 1000th – and last – game as a Flyer. And rather than the abysmal crowds that have shown up to most games recently, when the Wells Fargo Center seemed only a little more than a third full, the fans came en masse to honor Giroux and what he has meant to the Flyers franchise.
It was about as perfect a night as it could be for Giroux. For his teammates. For the fans. For the city. The Flyers coming from behind to win 5-4 against Nashville was the bonus. The non-stop celebration of Giroux was all that mattered.
Sure, a healthy chunk of tickets were complimentary, but you couldn’t give away tickets to a Flyers game as recently as last week. And while not every seat was full, the announced attendance of 18,405 wasn’t as much of an exaggeration as it usually is, as the actual drop count of butts in seats was closer to 17,000.
While debates have raged on, and likely will continue to fester in time as Flyers fans argue over Giroux’s greatness or his ability to lead a team as a captain, for one night, none of that mattered.
That’s because the Flyers turned Giroux’s 1,000th game into a memorable spectacle, one they should be proud of as they did justice to a franchise icon.
From the minute the doors opened at Wells Fargo Center, it was all about Giroux. And not only that, it was all about connecting Giroux to the fans.
The pre-game ceremony was classic Flyers. I was told by the powers that be that the true credit for the entire event was the combined work of the Flyers game presentation and marketing teams, and while the content, presentation and execution may have been pulled off flawlessly by those folks – and they deserve their kudos – none of it happens without signoffs from above -including Valerie Camillo and Dave Scott, the latter who did a pre-game television appearance with Jim Jackson to express the importance of Giroux to the franchise and the city – which honestly, is more important because those are the folks who shape the franchise’s culture.
Giroux was presented with gifts galore. Bob Clarke gave him the silver stick, given to every NHL player who plays 1,000 games. His wife, children and parents all received gifts from the franchise. They gave Giroux a Rolex. His teammates gave him an artistic rendition of a photo of one of his most memorable goals, which was the overtime game-winner in the Stadium Series over the Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field. And there was a artist’s rendition of Giroux and many of his memorable moments with the Flyers, including a hug with old buddy Wayne Simmonds and the hit on Crosby in the first part of “The Shift” in Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
The Flyers even had Eric Lindros there to bang the drum pre-game. They went all-out.
Here’s just a small sample of the night was like:
Oh, heck… here’s the whole ceremony:
After the game, Giroux took his usual post right by the door to the bench to individually high five each teammate after a win, except this time, there were no high-fives. It was all hugs.
One-by-one his teammates hugged their captain… and then none of them left the ice.
Giroux was named first star – how could he not be? (And kudos to the dean of the Flyers beat writers Wayne Fish for making that selection).
It was at that point his teammates made him take a victory lap around the rink to acknowledge the fans.
And when the first lap wasn’t enough, they called him back out for a second lap encore, that was simply goose bump inducing:
It certainly wasn’t Giroux’s best game. He took a penalty early in the game. He had two shots, one that he thought he should have scored on, and just missed his target. He almost had a couple of assists, but he admitted afterwards there were times where his head wasn’t just right because of all the emotion.
This included in the final 1:19, after Joel Farabee scored the go-ahead goal. Many assumed Mike Yeo would put Giroux on the ice with an empty net at the other end with the hopes of getting him that one final marker in the orange and black.
But Giroux never left the bench.
When asked why he didn’t give him a shift in the final minute, coach Mike Yeo was brutally honest, as always:
“I think there would have been an interim to the interim coach if I would have put him out there and he woulda blocked a shot at that moment. So, obviously, I told him I would have liked to put him out there in a normal situation but I think we had some guys that were capable of doing the job and obviously it was a little bit of asset management at that time too.”
In other words. We’re trading him and I didn’t want to get him hurt, because if I did, I’d have been fired. Giroux was totally on board with this decision. Yeo was cognizant of not putting Giroux on the ice in riskier situations like that. For example, Giroux had no time on the penalty kill.
It wasn’t a very memorable game as far as on-ice performance for Giroux, but it was definitely a memorable game, and perhaps the most memorable of his career because of how everything unfolded all day long.
And to get the send off he got from the only franchise he ever knew, to his teammates, to the fans and the city that loved him, was nothing short of perfect.
I asked Giroux two questions in the press conference after the game. The first was that he knew all the pomp and circumstance was coming, but was there anything that surprised him and surprised him so much that he got emotional, and he said that ending – it was completely unexpected.
And then I asked this:
He’s not kidding. He loves Flyers fans. He loves Philadelphia. It’s why he doesn’t want to go. But he’s going to. The questions are when? And where? Let’s get into that:
I think it’s best for me to be as transparent as I can be here without burning any sources whatsoever for you to understand just how long this process has been and why my report on Twitter soon after the game kind of blew up. So, let’s start there, and then go back and fill in the gaps.
Here is the order of my tweets:
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
OK… first thing is, I’ll figure this thread thing out eventually. Maybe it’s the version of Tweet Deck I use that I constantly screw it up, but hey, I tried. OK… back to the trade. (Kinkead: I got it).
So… I’ve been going back and forth with sources in the Flyers organization, and some folks in the know tied to both Colorado and Florida for weeks.
Things have been busy for sure. A lot of names have been bandied about. The Flyers sent Special assistant to the GM Danny Briere to Colorado a couple weeks ago to take in an Avalanche game as well as a Colorado Eagles (AHL) game to scout some potential prospects. Two of the names that came up from chats with sources at that time, Colorado has since moved elsewhere – Defensive prospect Drew Helleson and NHL forward Tyson Jost.
Also since moved has been Florida’s 2023 first round pick, which would have been a lynchpin in a deal for sure.
Anyway, there’s been a lot of back and forth. One Flyers source indicated to me that both the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins made offers, but the Flyers turned them down completely and didn’t continue negotiating.
Why would that be?
Because Giroux himself holds the biggest trump card in this whole process – which is his no movement clause. He can’t be traded without his permission. So, Chuck Fletcher’s hands are tied a little bit in that Giroux can dictate where he’s traded and where he’s not.
If Giroux is adamant about not wanting to play for either of those teams, then there’s no reason for Chuck to continue to negotiate with them.
Of course, he could try to use one or both of them as pawns to try and drive the price up, but there’s a reason a lot of agents think highly of Fletcher – and it’s because he won’t play that game – at least not to a great extent.
I had one agent tell me recently that Chuck is a “first class executive in this league” because of his openness and honesty.
Now, that doesn’t mean he won’t try to strategize to get his best offer either.
Let’s get into that for a second…
A little more than a week ago it looked like Colorado had cooled on Giroux. There had been a concern that maybe Giroux’s head wasn’t in it. That he would be longing for home and not be as committed to winning as the Avalanche would want him to be.
The Flyers then turned their attention toward Florida, who multiple sources, including one close to Giroux himself, told me he wanted to play with the Panthers.
The Flyers dispatched Briere a second time, this time to scout the Panthers AHL team (Charlotte) in Hershey. Then, when Charlotte was in Lehigh for a pair of games last weekend, not only was Briere there, but so was Fletcher.
Last week Florida had senior advisor to the GM Rick Dudley at a game in Philly.
This was all starting to come together.
One Flyers source originally told me the Flyers were looking at forward Owen Tippett and were also interested in the injured forward Grigori Denisenko.
However, once Florida traded that first rounder for Defenseman Ben Chiarot, the Flyers upgraded their target from Denisenko to winger Mackie Samoskevich, a 19-year-old who was Florida’s first round pick in 2021 and who made the All-Big 10 Freshman team in his first year at University of Michigan this season and who scouts I’ve talked to feel slipped down the draft board last summer because of limited viewing as a result of the pandemic and that he’s a better player than where he was selected (No. 24 overall).
However, a source told me Chuck began to wonder if that was enough – Samoskevich and Tippett – or if there should be more to the deal.
As Thursday drew closer, it became more and more apparent that it would be Giroux’s last game. A flyers source sent me a message saying Florida is the team, and that they are putting the finishing touches on the deal and that it included Tippett and Samoskevich.
Then there was this tweet Thursday from well-respected national insider Darren Dreger that really got the ball rolling:
So it was back to the phones…
I first checked with my source down in Florida who said the same thing, but said he also heard the name Serron Noel, another Florida prospect.
I went to a different Flyers source and threw all three names at him and he said Noel wasn’t involved.
I then went to a management level source who said there’s no truth to a deal involving those players.
It gave me pause for a second – but then I understood. Of course there’s no deal involving those players – yet.
I thanked him for letting me know so that I didn’t report something that wasn’t true, and was going to let it go for the night, maybe just throw up something speculative.
But then, at the game, I was told Giroux wasn’t flying with the team to Ottawa. That this was it. That, too, made sense. Why risk an injury this close to the deadline? But what followed next was the coup de grace for me – a source very close to Giroux told me he was definitely going to Florida. 100 percent.
So, now the conundrum… do I sit on it and wait, because of my earlier conversation with a management source? Or do I share what I know and take it from there?
Adding to the smoke was the fact that on the scout list at the game was the name Stiles Burr representing Florida. Who is Stiles Burr? Burr is the manager of team services for the Panthers. That means he handles all the travel details for the team – flights, hotels, buses, limos, etc. you name it.
Why the hell would Florida’s travel guy be at the game? Had to be to help Giroux get to where the Panthers needed him, right?
Now, this could have been a misdirect response from Zito, but I did confirm that this is exactly what happened. The Panthers have Burr send the emails to other teams to request credentials for their scouts. Some teams do that. Others have a member of the PR staff. Even others have the scouts send the requests themselves. As such, it can be easy to put the request in the name of the sender and not realize that it’s actually for someone else, so this well could have been a simple administrative error on the Flyers part. Or it could be Zito blowing smoke.
Then came this:
I actually didn’t see this tweet until after my Thread was posted. @NastyKnuckles is a Flyers podcast hosted by former Flyer Riley Cote and long-time equipment manager Derek Settlemyre. Both guys are close with a lot of players in the locker room from their time with the organization (Cote coached a number of these guys as an assistant with the Phantoms).
I have to imagine that their source came straight from the locker room.
Anyway, their tweet came while we were in the press conference room with Yeo, Giroux and others.
When I got back to the press box about a half hour later, I decided to share what I knew. Immediately it went viral. I knew the national guys would jump on it too, which is fine.
…and then first thing this morning:
Immediately after my thread went out I heard from my guy in Colorado – the Avalanche made an offer, to which the Flyers had not yet responded.
I had heard from outside both organizations that offer was a 2023 first round pick and defensive prospect Justin Barron.
Maybe the reason Chuck hasn’t committed to Florida yet, or said no to Colorado yet, is because he thinks Colorado’s offer is better than Florida’s.
However, as I said before, if Giroux doesn’t want to go to Colorado and wants to go to Florida, he can force the Flyers hand.
Or, maybe Chuck is trying to parlay this into something a little sweeter from Florida.
Again, from what I’ve been told, Giroux doesn’t feel like he’s as good a fit in Colorado as he is in Florida. Which is why he wants to go South and not West. There’s a belief that he’d be buried in the Colorado lineup because of all the talent that already exists there.
However, with the injury to Gabriel Landeskog, the Avalanche could use Giroux on the top line and also on the top power play.
But what happens when Landeskog can return? That’s the same question Giroux is asking.
And without certainty, he’s likely going to stick to his guns and tell Chuck Florida or nothing. Heck, he may have already done that – and Chuck is trying to let time and uncertainty potentially make the lead suitors more desperate.
It’s a poker game right now. And sometimes it’s hard to read the tea leaves. But, considering how many people I’ve spoken to about this, I’ll stand by my reporting. If it turns out to be wrong – then I’ll take that one on the chin.
But I’m pretty confident we’re all going to be watching Giroux take on the Canadiens in Montreal next Thursday as a member of the Florida Panthers.
I hope this detailed explanation helps understand how these things come together, and frankly, to appreciate the work of the national guys even more who go through this not just with one team, like me, but with all 32 teams in the league.
It’s why they are the best.
[the_ad id=”103880″]
