The 30 going on 31 year-old forward has had one heck of a career for the Philadelphia Flyers so far and deserves more appreciation from some in the fan-base.
There’s no doubt that Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux is, at the very least, a good hockey player. He’s proved time and time again that he can dominate play on-the-ice and show up in big moments for the team.
Giroux’s career came to light when he scored the game winning shootout goal against the New York Rangers to put Philadelphia in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He also led the Flyers playoff run that year with some dynamic performances throughout each series. Giroux netted 21 points (10 Goals, 11 Assists) in 23 playoff games, highlighted by a game winning overtime goal in Game Three of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks.
While they ended up losing in six games (let’s not talk about that), Giroux’s play during that run was nothing short of amazing and it didn’t stop there.
He was electric in the 2011-12 playoffs, as well. Giroux scored 17 points (8 Goals, 9 Assists) in 10 games during that playoff run, cementing his Flyers legacy with a huge hit on Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby in Game Six of the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He scored himself a goal soon after and helped eliminate the Penguins from the playoffs in that same game.
More recently, Giroux had a career year for the Flyers in the 2017-18 regular season. He scored 102 points in 82 games, which was second in the entire NHL and tied with Winnipeg Jets forward Blake Wheeler for the lead in assists, too, earning 68 helpers. There was a good argument to be made that he was snubbed from being a Hart Trophy finalist that year, as well, but the past is the past and it doesn’t make his performance that season any less terrific.
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Fast forward to this season, and the Philadelphia captain is still playing at a high level. He has 24 points (7 Goals, 14 Assists) in 20 games so far. That’s over a point-per-game, and on pace for 98 points to finish the year. The fact that Claude is doing this at the age of 30, going on 31, in the follow-up year to a career campaign is pretty remarkable.
Giroux surpassed 700 career points in the Flyers 6-5 overtime loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. That ranks 235th in the entire league’s history and fourth among players who have suited up for the Flyers. His stellar play in the regular season can’t be denied, but what about his playoff production which has come into question by some members of the Flyers fanbase?
Well, Giroux has 65 playoff points (24 Goals, 41 Assists) in just 69 games played. That ranks ninth among the Flyers all-time leaders in playoff points, and he’s done so playing in the fewest games out of the bunch who are ranked in the top ten.
The NHL is “what have you done for me lately” league, though and to be fair to the fans who criticize Giroux, he hasn’t done a whole lot in the playoffs since the 2011-12 season. Only ten of his 65 playoff points have come in the past three team appearances. You would expect the captain of the squad to show up a little more when the lights shine brightest, but there are reasons as to why his point total was lower than expected.
I’m going to disregard the 2013-14 season because Giroux scored at a near point-per-game pace during that first round series against the Rangers, which is still very respectable. As for the last two playoff appearances, the Flyers were simply the inferior team.
Michal Neuvirth carried them to a six game loss at the hands of the Washington Capitals, and not one Philadelphia goaltender could save a puck if their life depended on it last year vs Pittsburgh. It was also easy for opposing teams to key in on Giroux with the Flyers lacking scoring depth in both of those seasons. Still, a team will look to its leaders to provide a punch when morale is low and Giroux hasn’t done that in recent postseason play.
His skeptics will seemingly always be around. Whether they demand the team to “Strip the C” or refer to him as “Fraud Giroux”, any player who hasn’t won their team a championship will come under some form of scrutiny from the fan-base. I honestly feel like it will take him retiring or departing from Philadelphia for those fans to truly realize what the team had in him.
The fact of the matter is, Giroux is one of the greatest playmakers to ever wear an Orange-and-Black uniform. He currently sits at 480 career assists at the time this article was written, which is just one shy of earning sole possession of second all-time among Flyers players in said category. He is also one of the most dominant offensive players of his generation, ranking second behind Crosby in total points since 2010 with 627.
Just because he hasn’t won a Stanley Cup in his career so far or sometimes won’t meet statistical expectations in the postseason, does not mean he’s not a great player. There have been plenty of current and future Hall-of-Famers who haven’t won themselves a Cup. It’s time to start appreciating Giroux while he’s still with the team and playing at a high level because trust me, you’ll miss him when he’s gone.