With Wednesday being the last time that fully vaccinated players were tested, Alex Ovechkin found himself with a positive test result. Named the captain of the Metropolitan All-Star team, he was forced to miss the Capitals final game before the break and will not be available for the festivities as well. In his place, Claude Giroux will now don the ‘C’ in a different capacity.
An NHL All-Star veteran, this will be the first time in his career that Giroux will get a chance to captain his own division. This will be the seventh over ASG for the veteran Flyers forward. He first participated in 2011 (Carolina). He was also named an All-Star in 2012 (Ottawa), 2015 (Columbus), 2016 (Nashville), 2018 (Tampa), and his most recent one being in 2019 (San Jose).
Before taking place in the All-Star game itself, Giroux will be a part of the Skills Competition the night before. Only involved in one event as of now, he will take place in one of the newest events debuting in Las Vegas: the Discover NHL Fountain Face-Off.
The competition itself will take place on the Bellagio Fountains. They will travel by boat to the rink and will have to shoot pucks into five targets in the least amount of time. Players will also have to deal with spray from the fountains, as well as potential breeze off The Strip as well.
Giroux has been an All-Star for the Flyers this season as he plays out the final year of his contract. He is second on the team in goals (15) and points (35) while leading in assists (20). He recently crossed the 600-career assists threshold as he’s closing in on 1,000 games played as well. He’s at 985 career games, all in a Flyers jersey. If he remains with the team and plays every game, he would reach the 1,000 game mark on March 17th against the Nashville Predators.
Giroux has more than put his mark on the organization as well. He is top-five in most notable categories. He has 985 games played (2nd), 605 assists (2nd), and 893 points (2nd). Giroux would have to play quite a few more seasons with the Flyers to touch any of Bobby Clarke’s franchise records. Nevertheless, he has been a big part of this team for quite since time since being drafted in 2006. Time will tell if he will remain with the team past the trade deadline.