Photo Credit: Ricky Brown
The team’s long-time captain Claude Giroux (who has played for the Flyers for the last 15 seasons) is set to become a free agent at season’s end for the first time in 8 seasons. While both the Flyers’ General Manager (GM) and pending-unrestricted free agent Giroux held brief discussions on a possible extension earlier this year during camp, both sides ultimately agreed to hold off with any further negotiations until later in the season. With this mutually agreed upon decision to stall conversations, Giroux has been able to go out there this season and prove to the club that drafted him that, even though he may be now 33 years old, he can still produce. Scoring 5 goals and 7 assists for 12 points in just 13 games played, Giroux has waiting teams hoping that the two long tethered dyads (Giroux and the Flyers) agree to disagree and go their separate ways for 2022.
And for good reason: Giroux ranks 12th of all active players in NHL points with 870 and two of those players ahead of him were born nine years before him. With names like Thornton, Ovechkin, Crosby, and Kane being the only ones that Giroux may not be able to catch by the time he hangs his skates up for the last time, the Flyers might live to regret not making him an offer he couldn’t refuse before this season commenced.
Even though his current salary is $8.25 million, the rumor mill is already ablaze with the thought that Ottawa (the city where Giroux and his family reside in the off season) look to be willing to move mountains in order to bring home this Canadian relic. Now, while this last place Atlantic team may not seem like they stand a chance to steal Giroux away from the City of Brotherly Love, please realize with current players like Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, and Thomas Chabot; prospects like forwards Riley Greig, Tyler Boucher, and Roby Jarventie; defensemen Jake Sanderson and Tyler Kleven; and goalies Filip Gustavsson and Mads Sogaard well on their way, the Senators may not be that far away from true contention.
That is why the Flyers better have some players in mind as backup plans just in case Giroux does decide to test free agency where another team could make him an offer the Flyers can’t match, given the fact that they have already re-signed their future captain Sean Couturier to a new, massive, 8-year $62 million contract that will take effect next season.
One such player the Flyers should be keeping tabs on is the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent 6’0 194-pound left winger Ondej Palat from the back-to-back Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay Lightning. To this point the Lightning and Palat have yet to sit down and talk about any sort of extension. This is probably due to the fact that Tampa simply doesn’t have the cap space currently to do so. When you win it all everyone is going to want to be paid and it should be no different for this now 30-year-old Czech born player. While Palat may not have the scoring touch of Giroux, he has played in close to 400 games less than Claude. Which, at this point in their careers, may be a good thing considering you can really begin to feel the repercussions of playing this great sport on a nightly basis.
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If I had to try and explain Ondej’s game, it would be a hard-working opportunist. Blessed with a great work ethic and a Hockey IQ that is off the charts, Palat knows when and where to be at all times in order to be in the best position to score a goal. To add to that, he would fit in well with some of the other veterans the Flyers brought in this past off season because, like all the others already brought in, he plays the game the right way: A 200ft. player who is a +133 over the course of his career (Giroux is a +38). But that’s not the only way Ondej is defensively responsible: He is also clever enough not to take bad penalties. To prove that all you have to do is look at his penalty minutes (Pim’s) over the years. In ten seasons played, Palat only has amassed a modest 185 Pim’s. With a lot of good hockey still left in him, Palat (who currently gets paid $5.3 million a season and has 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points in 13 games played so far) looks like he could be the perfect fit to try and replace Giroux in the lineup if he so chooses to leave Philadelphia at the seasons end. Palat has 564 regular season games to his credit and, in that time, has scored 129 goals and 254 assists for 383 points. While his work in the regular season maybe impressive what he has managed to do come the post season may make him the prime candidate if Claude were to leave. With 115 games of playoff experience and 2 Stanley Cup Rings on his fingers for his efforts Ondej has been able to score 37 goals and 36 assists for 73 points while averaging an impressive +25 in the post season. Signing Ondej would surely soften the blow if Claude were to up and leave. Not to mention make for an impressive new linemate for Couturier and Konecny/Atkinson.
Another player who, not only would make for a great replacement but has been rumored to want to play in Philadelphia (seeing that he’s from nearby Salem, NJ) for years now, is Calgary Flames left winger Johnny Gaudreau. Slightly younger than both Giroux and Palat, this now 28-year-old who stands at just 5’9 165 pounds offers quite the different style of game. Where the others previously mentioned might excel by way of pure skill and a high Hockey IQ, this NJ native uses his innate stick-handling skills to allow himself to dangle with the best in the league; and when not with the puck Gaudreau is elusive in nature; using his lack of height to help him to sneak behind his opponent’s defense, Johnny tends to disappear while out on the ice. This year, in 14 games played, Johnny has 4 goals and 11 assists for 15 points on the season. For his career he has accumulated over 500 points in 534 regular season games played, making him a near point per game player for his career!
While this former Hobey Baker Award winner (award given to the best Collegiate player) has been in talks with Calgary recently about the possibility of signing a major extension, head Coach Darryl Sutter at times has seemed less than impressed with Gaudreau’s play.
Could this mean that the hometown kid might take a discount to come back east and play for his childhood heroes? Time will tell, but as of right now the great “Johnny Hockey” as he is better known as appears to be leaving his options open.
After a down year last season, the 27-year-old left winger Filip Forsberg of the Nashville Predators may indeed be an option for the Flyers if Giroux were to decide to go elsewhere this off season. With the Predators GM David Poile choosing to extend the once thought of trade bait defenseman Mattias Ekholm instead of Forsberg to a new four-year contract worth over $6.25 million annually, it might just have meant that Poile closed the door on the possibility of Filip returning to Nashville next season. This coming after Poile stated that he now considers the team to be in a rebuild after shipping out star players Ryan Ellis and Viktor Arvidsson earlier this summer. Further proof of this would be that the team did not even bother to hold any talks with their former 30+ goal-scoring forward this off season who is currently making $6 million dollars a year. This decision did not obviously sit well with Forsberg, and he has since implied that he may just test the open market this off season. Lucky for the Flyers (but will surely hurt his chance at receiving the kind of payday that he wants) is that Forsberg just got moved to the injured reserve list yet again after receiving what is being called an upper body injury.
Before his injury, Forsberg was able to compile 4 goals and 3 assists for 7 points in 9 games played this season. A feat that would have had this former 1st round pick of Washington well on his way to another great season.
Filip has all the intangibles: he can skate, he can stick handle, and he possesses a powerful shot which makes him the kind of player that draws multiple players from the other team towards him. If brought in via free agency- or even somehow acquired at the deadline- Forsberg could prove to be an absolute spark plug. But the question is: should the Flyers take on yet another Predators player with injury issues?
In all likelihood, the Philadelphia Flyers will be able to come to an agreement with their captain Claude Giroux, but on the rare chance they do not any of these potential unrestricted free agents listed above would make for a formidable replacement. Question is which one would fit in best with the current roster if Giroux were to depart?
why is this even being talked about,G has not said that he wants to play anywhere but here
He also refused to sign in preseason. Or even talk about it. He at least is going to weigh his options.