Claude Giroux Gets Traded To The Florida Panthers, Will Be A Stanley Cup Champion In 3 Months
Patrick Smith. Getty Images.
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Alright so I already said pretty much everything I needed to say about Giroux heading to Florida yesterday. If you're interested, you can read all of that here.
The signs were pointing to Florida the moment that the Panthers' director of travel was in Philly for Giroux's 1000th game on Thursday night. Pretty sure everybody could draw their conclusions from there, but now the trade is official. Claude Giroux is heading to Sunrise, Florida and will hoist the Stanley Cup over his head with the Cats in just a few short months. After that? Well maybe there's a chance he comes right back to Philly. Maybe he realizes Florida weather beats the shit out of Philly and he stays down there. Maybe he signs somewhere else. Who knows what the future holds for Claude Giroux. All we know is that for the first time in his NHL career, he'll be wearing a sweater with a different logo on the front than the Flyers, and that is weird as shit. But I couldn't be happier for Claude that he gets this chance to go to a contender and play deep into May/June again.
Now as for the return coming back to Philly? Well…I mean I can't lie. I'm drastically underwhelmed. I knew this whole time that the trade was more for Giroux to get a chance to play for a contender and less about making the Flyers a better team. But I got all sorts of fired up when I was under the impression that Mackie Samoskevich was going to be included in the package with Owen Tippett. Samoskevich has been an animal at Michigan since right around the World Juniors. I was a huge fan of Owen Tippett heading into his draft year but obviously he hasn't been able to fully develop his game at the NHL level yet. However, his raging red hair will fit right in on this team.
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I know a lot of folks are going to be concerned about the fact that 1st round pick isn't until 2024 but hear me out--the Florida Panthers are going to be in the Stanley Cup Final this year. The Hockey Gods have to make that happen between Claude Giroux and Joe Thornton. So even if the Panthers didn't already give up their 2023 1st round pick for Ben Chiarot, that pick is going to be 31st or 32nd anyway. You might as well wait for that 2024 pick just in case the wheels fall off the wagon in Florida next year. Just trying to spinzone that one for my own sanity. But yeah, would have been nice to get another player in the package instead of just Tippett. But we'll see. I feel like his game is extremely similar to Tyson Foerster so hopefully the Flyers can have both of those guys in the lineup soon enough.
At the end of the day, this trade is all about giving Claude a chance. And he's earned every bit of it. 28 has been everything that an entire generation of Flyers hockey have known about the orange and black. He's one of the greatest to come through this organization, and I'm going to miss the shit out of watching him play in Philly every night. But goddamn is it going to feel amazing if we get the chance to watch him take a lap with the Cup. Let's go Cats.