Multiple Teams Pursuing Claude Giroux

Ottawa being interested shouldn’t come as any surprise.  Giroux spent the past four seasons with them, putting up 242 points in 327 games over that stretch.  His output last season was largely steady with the year before, as he tallied 14 goals and 35 assists in 82 games while winning more than 63% of his faceoffs.  The Sens tried to re-sign him before he hit the open market but Giroux decided he wanted to see what was available on the open market.  Ottawa GM Steve Staios indicated that a big reason why the team hasn’t done much so far in free agency is that they’re holding a spot if the veteran wants to return.

Philadelphia is another team that Giroux is plenty familiar with.  He spent the first 15 seasons of his NHL career with them after being drafted in the first round back in 2006.  Of course, the Flyers’ salary cap situation is now somewhat in flux as they await Anaheim’s decision on whether they will match Leo Carlsson’s five-year, $90MM offer sheet.  If they don’t, the Flyers may have a hard time affording Giroux, especially knowing that Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale are among their remaining restricted free agents.  Garrioch notes that the sense around the league is that the Flyers are Giroux’s likely landing spot but nothing is finalized at this point.

Toronto is an interesting fit if the money can work.  New GM John Chayka has overhauled their bottom six but beyond Jack Roslovic (who replaces Nicholas Robertson), very little has been done in terms of adding offensive upside to his group.  Giroux could give them some needed secondary scoring.  However, they’re $2.75MM over the cap at the moment, per PuckPedia, and while Max Domi’s injury could land him on LTIR to start the season, it feels like another domino would need to fall before the Maple Leafs could make Giroux a competitive offer.

Garrioch suggests that part of the reason that Giroux is taking more time than usual is that this is likely to be his final season.  In that case, he won’t be pursuing a multi-year contract which means a one-year agreement with bonuses could be on the table.  Giroux played on that structure last season, taking a $2MM base salary with another $2.75MM in incentives, $1MM of which were reached.  That structure allows for greater short-term cap flexibility which would be especially appealing to some cap-strapped franchises.  It wouldn’t be surprising for Giroux to receive a deal like that, regardless of where he winds up signing over the coming days or weeks.