“When you love, you have to leave”, once wrote the Swiss writer Blaise Cendrars. When you want to win the Stanley Cup too. Talk to Raymond Bourque.
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Almost 1000 games (998), 899 points, close to 300 goals. That’s what Claude Giroux has given the Flyers since he first donned the black and orange uniform on Feb. 19, 2008.
Fourteen years later, the two parties come to a crossroads. For the past few weeks, rumors have been swirling that the Flyers captain will change his address by the trade deadline.
His experience, his ability to play both center and wing and the fact that his $8.275 million contract expires in July make him a tempting catch for a team aspiring to top honors. And that’s not going to happen in Philadelphia.
In the offices of the Flyers, we are aware of this reality.
“Of course we would like to keep it, declared Daniel Brière, special adviser to general manager Chuck Fletcher, during a telephone interview with Le Journal. But if he asks us to trade it, we will consider this option. Claude deserved to have that choice. He gave us several good years in Philadelphia. We’re going to do what he wants to help him. »
No return guarantee
To help Giroux and to help the team that wishes to acquire it. Because we may be approaching the end of the season, inserting what remains of the $8.275 million under the ceiling is not easy.
“There is always a way to work things out. There are ways to negotiate this type of transaction: withhold a portion of the salary or take a contract in return,” explained Brière.
The good thing about Giroux’s situation is that he could agree to be traded to better come back when the free agent market opens. A way of doing things that has already been seen in the past, but which is far from being a guarantee, recalls Brière.
“Once gone, the player can fall in love with the other place. So we prefer not to look at the situation that way. Either we exchange it, or we keep it to sign it, ”he said.
Couturier is better
The Flyers will miss the playoffs for the third time in four seasons. Like the Canadian, they were not spared from injury over the winter.
“We were deprived of our first four center players for almost the entire season,” said Brière.
Among the crippled, Sean Couturier, operated in February for a back injury that has kept him out of the game since mid-December.
“We got some good news over the past few days,” Brière said. The doctors told us that his rehabilitation was going very well, even better than they had hoped. »
The 2020 Selke Trophy winner should have no after-effects from the discomfort he tried to deal with at the start of the season.
“Obviously he won’t be playing this year, but he should be able to train hard over the summer. He’s supposed to be ready for the start of training camp. »
Good for the Flyers, because if Giroux were to leave and never return, Couturier’s contribution will become even more essential.