All Signs Are Currently Pointing Towards The Florida Panthers Being The Team That Claude Giroux Wins A Stanley Cup With
Tim Nwachukwu. Getty Images.
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The deal hasn't officially been finalized yet but where there's smoke, there's fire. And where there's fire, there's a hockey trade. This one seems about as good as done, even though the Avs are still in the mix.
Regardless of whether it's Florida or Colorado, we've known for a little while now that this moment was coming. That Claude Giroux's career in Philadelphia would come to an end after he played his 1000th game. That the Captain would get a proper send off and a night for Flyers fans to appreciate and celebrate this unbelievable human we've been spoiled enough to have in our lives for the past 15 seasons for one last time, and then he'd be on his way to chase his dream of winning a Stanley Cup. But that doesn't make this moment any easier.
Claude Giroux has meant so much to this organization. I know there will be idiots out there who will always need to bring up the fact that he never won a Cup as if that's the only measurement of success. But Claude Giroux epitomized everything it meant to be a Philadelphia Flyer. A guy who had all the individual talent in the world but all he cared about was the team, the team, the team. He cared about this organization more than himself. He cared about his teammates more than himself. He cared about the fans and he cared about this city more than himself.
He gave everything he had for everybody else around him. And while it sucks that it's ending this way and not with him skating laps around the Wells Fargo Center with Lord Stanley's Cup hoisted over his head, I couldn't be happier for him to go get a few more cracks with a team which can actually give him a few more cracks at the Cup. And if it is Florida? Well holy heck is this Panthers team now locked and loaded to do the damn thing.
Barkov, Giroux and Bennett up the middle. Huberdeau, Reinhart and Duclair on the wings. Ekblad as your Norris-caliber defenseman. Gudas as your shit kicker. Bobrovksy and Spencer Knight are a top tier tandem between the pipes. The Florida Panthers have everything you could ask for in a potential Stanley Cup Champion. The things I would do for the Cats to get it done this year. Not only because I think there's a chance that Giroux would return to Philly in the offseason if he won a Cup this season in Florida, but also because then Joe Thornton could finally ride his lawn mower off into the sunset as a Stanley Cup Champion without having to keep coming back on these 1-year-deals. So consider me the world's biggest Panthers now. Haven't been this big on the Cats since the Bure brothers were running shit in Sunrise.
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Again, it hurts like a bitch that Claude Giroux is no longer a Philadelphia Flyer. I honestly forget what it's like to watch Flyers hockey without Giroux. But Claude deserves this chance and I'm just happy the organization was able to make it happen for him. I'm also happy the organization did everything perfect for his 1000th career game. Easily the best moment in the past few years of Flyers hockey.
As for the return to Philly in the trade, we can talk about those guys later. I've heard names like Owen Tippett and Mackie Samoskevich thrown around. I'm a big fan of both of those guys, even though I was a much bigger fan of Owen Tippett on his draft night as opposed to this exact moment. Honestly it's not that important. Chuck Fletcher could have retained all of Giroux's salary and sent him to Florida for free and I wouldn't have cared. This trade was about giving a chance to a guy who has given everything he possibly could to the Philadelphia Flyers. This was about getting Claude a Cup. So the fact that the Flyers got anything back in return is just icing on the cake.
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Thanks for all the memories, G. Now somebody get me some Panthers gear. I feel like we'll be needing a lot of it in May and June.