Giroux approaching 1,000 games with Flyers while NHL Trade Deadline looms

Claude Giroux has reason to be proud of what he's accomplished in 15 seasons, all for the Philadelphia Flyers.

He's been captain for 10 seasons, played in the NHL All-Star Game seven times, including this season when he was named most valuable player. He's on track to play his 1,000th NHL on March 17, something one other player has done with the Flyers, Hockey Hall of Famer
Bobby Clarke
.
"A lot of great memories," Giroux said. "I got to play with some great players and some great guys. I got some great relationships with a lot of guys in the organization. The Flyers, they've been unbelievable to me my whole career. I couldn't ask for more."
The Flyers haven't been able to ask for much more this season. He had an assist in a 6-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday and is second on Philadelphia with 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists) in 54 games. He is third in the NHL with a 61.4 percent success rate on face-offs (minimum 300 taken), and is averaging 19:16 in ice time, his most in three seasons.
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But the Flyers (18-29-10), who play the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ABC, SN, NHL LIVE), are last in the eight-team Metropolitan Division. And with Giroux's eight-year contract expiring July 13 and the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline approaching March 21, the 34-year-old has been at the center of trade rumors.
Giroux has a no-move clause in his contract, which means he cannot be traded, loaned to another team or waived without his approval. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said in January, "We'll continue to have conversations and ultimately a decision will have to be made one way or the other. But it'll be Claude's decision."
Having that degree of control hasn't seemed to lower Giroux's stress level.
"I think we can probably all see that it's weighing on him," Philadelphia coach Mike Yeo said March 4. "You look at 'G,' and this is not your average player that's been with an organization for three, four years and might potentially get traded. We're talking about growing up in this organization and this town and a guy that's really given a lot. This is a real difficult time for him, there's no question."
Giroux is second in Flyers history in games (998), assists (609) and points (899), all behind Clarke (1,144 games, 852 assists, 1,210 points).
Though Giroux has developed into one of the best players in Flyers history, the beginning of his time in Philadelphia wasn't ideal.
He was selected by the Flyers in the first round (No. 22) of the 2006 NHL Draft and played two NHL games in the 2007-08 season. But he had a subpar training camp before 2008-09, partly because of surgery to remove his wisdom teeth, and started that season with Philadelphia of the American Hockey League.
"When I came to camp, I was expecting the red carpet and [to] make the team, play for the Flyers and the future would be there," he said. "So for me to get sent down, at the moment I was upset.
"But now looking back, it was 100 percent the best thing for me."
John Paddock was the reason it became the best thing for Giroux.
Paddock was in his first season as coach of the Flyers' AHL affiliate. They played at the Spectrum, located on the opposite end of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex from Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers' arena. But to make that walk across the parking lot to the NHL, Giroux had to develop some things in his game.

"Obviously his skill made him good, but his attitude, I think he recognized he had not paid his dues and he was going to go up when he was ready," Paddock said. "He needed a little bit of brushing up and he certainly did that."
The first step in that process was shifting Giroux from right wing to center, something Paddock said he and then-general manager Paul Holmgren discussed. They thought Giroux's skill set and hockey sense could allow him to make it work.
"Centermen can always go play the wing, but wingers can't play center," Paddock said. "The difference in that usually is a level of hockey sense, a commitment to a little bit more of that 200-foot game. There's different responsibilities there, so you have to be intelligent to play center and produce points and have a two-way game.
"I don't really remember a lot of bumps in the road. I remember him just being a good player."
Giroux said he wasn't happy with how he started the 2008-09 season, scoring two points (one goal, one assist) in his first seven games. So when Paddock suggested the shift to center, he was on board.
"My mindset was I just wanted to make the Flyers and whatever position that would have been, I was OK with," he said. "Paddock
for the Flyers lead with five points (two goals, three assists) during the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a six-game loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
The following season, Giroux scored the deciding goal in the shootout when the Flyers defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 on the final day. Philadelphia would go to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.
"I remember early on, one of his big thrills was when we played Boston was going into a corner with [defenseman Zdeno] Chara and trying to take the puck off him," said Daniel Briere, a teammate and now special assistant to Fletcher. "You're thinking you've got to outsmart him, but he wanted to prove to everybody that he could physically stand in there and push him out of the way and take the puck from him. Not every time, but he did it a few times, and you're like, man, this player just wants it. That's something you can't teach.
"His compete level has just always been on a different level than most other players. It's something you see in guys like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon. There's a reason why these guys are so good. Claude Giroux has that trait."
It's one that could make Giroux a desirable commodity with the deadline approaching.
Giroux has declined to discuss his future with the Flyers except for one media session in February.
"We have a lot of things to talk about, what's best for the Flyers organization, what's best for me," he said, "and we'll just go from there."