It’s no secret to anyone who follows the Flyers on a regular basis, that Claude Giroux is a vital part to the teams overall success. As Giroux goes, so do the orange and black. Giroux is the engine that runs the Flyers. When thinking of the Flyers best player of the decade there is no one even close to the player that Giroux was.
If you ask Giroux if he should be better, he will tell you he has to be better. Giroux wears his heart on his sleeve and always has been a team-first guy. However, the guy is a great Captain of the Flyers, and second longest tenured Captain in Flyers history. He has tallied 222 goals, dished out 493 assists for a grand total of 715 points in 733 games played this past decade. Jesus…I mean what more does the Captain have to do to show people how good he is or has been this past decade? All of these stats start from September 2, 2010-present.
Giroux has been stellar on the Power Play this past decade. He really torches his opponents, while leaving them in the dust. Giroux has tallied 66 PP goals, and dished out 212 PP assists for a whopping grand total of 278 PP points. He’s most dominant on the left side, but Giroux has been used on the right side a lot this season.
Some people refuse to give Giroux credit for making players around him better!!! I mean, fa sheezy my kneezy, keep my arm so weezy. Let’s see he makes Jakub Voracek a better player when he plays with him, Sean Couturier succeeds, Travis Konecny is better, shoot even Scott Hartnell killed it with him, and Jaromir Jagr had a great season with Giroux. Quite frankly Giroux had a great season with Jagr, as well, as Giroux posted his second best statistical season with 93 points in 2011-12. The fact is no matter who plays with Giroux players seem to always succeed, hence the reason some struggling players have been moved up to play with him (Voracek for instance multiple times).
The one area that Giroux stands out from the rest of this past decade is faceoffs. He has compiled a 54.8 Faceoff Percentage. It just appears he wins every faceoff, after every faceoff. The guy has just been so darn good in this area, and it has been rubbing off on Couturier, as well this season.
It’s crazy to find out that Giroux has issued 686 hits this past decade. He really has tried everything just to win a hockey game. Some say when he wins a Cup, then he will get the respect he deserves. What a darn shame that is. This guy deserves respect now, and there hasn’t been a Flyers player even close to how good he has been this past decade.
Photo Credit: Zack Hill
This should all go without saying. I mean what else does this guy got to do. I’m a Massachusetts guy but Giroux is definitely one of my all time favorites he just goes at 100 % every shift that he’s on the ice. Having not won a cup is really neither here nor there. One player could never control that. I personally think it’s a lot of uneducated people making extremely stupid comments. Or just don’t get what hockey is really all about!!