After reading one of the most bizarre articles I have ever come across, I thought it was necessary to come on here and help explain why Claude Giroux shouldn’t have been traded years ago. It’s pretty sad that I even have to do this but here we are.

The article started off with a lot of crying about how other people have reacted to the harsh reality that Claude Giroux, who is 2nd in franchise history in points, assists and games played, will ultimately be traded to a team come this trade deadline to chase a Stanley Cup. 

Now we’re telling people how they can and cannot react to news about their hockey team? This guy even gave me and my co-host Danny Diemer shit for not blogging about a press conference that lasted 1:35. He even admitted in the blog that Giroux said nothing of any importance, so I’m struggling to figure out what exactly he wanted us to blog. 

We certainly weren’t going to write a shitty article crying about how Giroux should’ve been traded years ago. At least this guy acknowledged Claude’s accomplishments as a Flyer over the past decade, and even admitted it’s “cool and all”. 

It is pretty cool, you’re spot on there. Claude also passed Bobby Clarke this year for the #1 spot in power-play points in franchise history (338), so I’d say that’s also a pretty cool accomplishment. 

The whole “he didn’t win a cup” while dragging Andrew MacDonald, Dale Weise, Jori Lehtera, Matt Read, Nick Grossmann, Adam Hall, Colin McDonald, Brandon Manning, Radko Gudas, and many others through years of playoffs runs, is the craziest argument I have ever seen. 

It’s almost as if you need to have an actual team around you before you can do anything in the playoffs. Just ask Alex Ovechkin, who was a “loser” until he was finally given a team to go and win one with in 2017-2018. 

If that’s not enough, Connor McDavid, who is one of the best hockey players I have ever seen pick up a hockey stick, hasn’t been past the 2nd round in his 7-year career. By this guys logic, the Oilers should trade McDavid now and get it over with, he just can’t win.

Before this guy runs off and tries to say I’m comparing Claude Giroux to Connor McDavid, I’m simply comparing both organizations’ inability to place an actual team around either one of them. McDavid plays with another generational talent in Leon Draisaitl, but the Oilers are too focused on adding Zach Hyman and Evander Kane, because they definitely need more offense and not a goalie/defense. 

2009-2010 Playoffs

This was around the last time Giroux had a competent team around him with guys like Danny Briere, Jeff Carter, Chris Pronger, Mike Richards, Simon Gagne, Scott Hartnell, and Kimmo Timonen on it. The Flyers lost in the SCF to the Chicago Blackhawks, but 22-year old Giroux finished 3rd on the team in playoff scoring with 10G-11A-21P. 

2010-2011 Playoffs

Now we get to the year Boston swept us and the Flyers decided to blow everything up after the embarrassing showing and make Claude Giroux the centerpiece of the team. Giroux finished 1st on the team in playoff scoring with 1G-11A-12P. 

2011-2012 Playoffs

In the year after making Giroux the centerpiece of the team, the Flyers’ biggest move was signing 40-year-old Jagr. Giroux had a dominant season with 28G-65A-93P while playing on a line with Scott Hartnell and Jagr. This was the same year Giroux blew up Sidney Crosby off the opening face-off and then buried one early to put the Flyers up 1-0. If you sat there after the Flyers lost to the Devils in the 2nd round and blamed Claude Giroux, you have no idea what you’re talking about. 

Giroux finished 1st on the team in playoff scoring with 8G-9A-17P

2013-2014 Playoffs

This is where the rosters start getting extremely hard to even look at. The Flyers let Jagr walk and decided it would be great to add Vinny Lecavalier, who just got bought out by the Lightning, to a 5-year $22.5 million dollar deal. Vinny would later be traded to the LA Kings on January 6th, 2016, in a cap dump (50% retained), along with Luke Schenn for….Jordan Weal. 

That was the Flyer’s idea of putting “talent” around Claude Giroux to help him go win a cup. 33-year old Vinny Lecavalier, who quite literally could not skate anymore. Ray Emery, God rest his soul, couldn’t move post-to-post at all and the Rangers took full advantage of that in the beginning of that playoff round.

I still believe that if Steve Mason was able to suit up at the beginning of that series, we would’ve made it a little more interesting. Mason was extremely impressive when he did eventually come back, putting up a .939 SV% with a 1.97 GAA in the 4 games he started. 

Giroux still finished 1st on the team in playoff scoring with 2G-4A-6P. 

2015-2016 Playoffs

Again, I have a little PTSD from looking at the rosters the Flyers put around this guy. This was after we traded Scott Hartnell for R.J Umberger for “cap reasons”, and Claude Giroux still managed to lead this atrocious roster to a playoff appearance with 22G-45A-67P for #1 on the team in regular-season scoring. 

Do you all remember when Hextall tried to convince us Evgeny Medvedev was the next big thing after signing him out of the KHL? Yeah me too, it was a great time to be a Flyers fan. 

I remember going into this series with the Capitals basically laughing at fans who had any hope we’d be able to win. The Capitals won the series 4-2 and went on the lose in the 2nd round against Pittsburgh. Good thing the Capitals didn’t trade away Ovechkin for not getting it done in the playoffs. 

The leading point scorer for the Flyers this season was Shayne Gositsbehere with a huge 1G-1A-2P in 6 games. It’s a joke anybody looks at Claude Giroux and puts the blame solely on him. 

I remember the Flyers playing Colin McDonald in Game 4 and asking myself, “Is this the end?” 

2017-2018 Playoffs

Ahhh, I remember this playoff round like it happened two days ago. I still despise Radko Gudas for basically giving the Penguins Game 6 after Sean Couturier scored a hat-trick on a torn MCL. Valtteri Filppula finished 2nd on the team in playoff scoring, with Giroux right behind with 1G-2A-3P in the series. If that doesn’t give you a sense of just how bad the rosters around G were constructed, you’re a lost cause. 

This was around the same time Hextall went out and grabbed Dale Weise and tried to convince us that he was a 20 goal scorer, good times. This was also the same season Giroux got snubbed from league MVP to Taylor Hall despite having more points (102) than all three of the finalist. Taylor Hall (93 points), Anze Kopitar (92 points), and Nathan MacKinnon (97 points). 

Giroux dragged this AWFUL roster to the playoffs this year with 19 goals over the final 29 games of the regular season. Again, it’s a joke anyone looks at Giroux and solely puts the blame on him.

Instead of being upset at Giroux, how about you turn your frustration to the Flyers incompetent front office for refusing to build an actual team around this guy. 

2019-2020 Playoffs

We finally arrive at my least favorite playoff appearance in all my years of watching this team, despite being one game away from going to the Eastern Conference Finals. The NHL counts the Round Robin play-in round as actual playoff points for some reason, but I refuse to do that. 

Giroux had 4P in the 1st round against Montreal, where the only reason we escaped with the series win was because of Carter Hart. Then, in the second round against the Islanders, where it was obvious the entire Flyers team was just completely outmatched, Giroux had 4P in 7 games. 

So in total, Giroux had 8 points in 13 playoff games between the two series, and while that’s not exactly him “lighting up the scoresheet”, I refuse to look at Giroux and say, “You’re the reason the team put up a goose egg in Game 7.” 

I’m open to listening

If this guy “Joe Pop” or whatever his name is would’ve sat down and explained that maybe trading Giroux a couple of years ago could’ve brought in the pieces that we would’ve needed to start a fresh rebuild, I would’ve actually listened. That’s not a bad route to go and try to make a point with, Giroux would’ve probably brought back a big package, especially after his MVP snub season in 2017-2018.

Instead, he shits on people for being sad that Giroux might not be a Flyer in a month and attacks his playoff performances. 

The bottom line is Giroux was never the problem. I’m more frustrated with the organizations failure to properly draft and their refusal to put a component defense and bottom-six in-front of whatever goalie was starting in net since 2010. 

Come playoff time you need four lines that you can roll night in and night out and the Flyers haven’t had that since 2010 when 22-year old Giroux was playing with Arron Asham in the bottom six. 

Despite not knowing who this guy is, I look forward to having him on the next episode of The Liberty Yell to defend his shitty take. 

Mandatory Credit: Zack Hill/Flyers PR - Flyers twitter