Claude Giroux, Comfy in Ottawa, Praises Ex-Flyers Teammates

Claude Giroux has found another home.

Fact is, the former Philadelphia Flyers long-time captain is at home.

Giroux, 34, signed a three-year, $19.5 million deal with his hometown Ottawa Senators in July.  His annual cap hit is $6.5 million.

When he broke into the NHL, Giroux told TSN in Canada, he was “lucky enough” to learn from Philadelphia Flyers teammates like Danny Briere, Mike Richards and Chris Pronger.

“Its not like you have lessons, but you just see what they’re doing … and when you have players like that, you just get better,” Giroux said.

Now he’s the veteran mentor, sharing secrets — such as how he dominates in the faceoff circle — with his young teammates. He has also been working with high-scoring left winger Alex DeBrincat, setting him up with one-timers.

“I think with experience, you find tricks,” said Giroux, who was traded to Florida last season for a first-round pick in 2024 and winger Owen Tippett.

“They help me as much as I help them,” Giroux told TSN about his new teammates. “We’re all in this together.”

Playoff Aspirations

Giroux, an alternate captain with the Senators, isn’t in Ottawa just to play in front of family and friends. He wants to win an elusive Stanley Cup. The Senators are a long shot, but they improved dramatically in the offseason, and they are a young team on the rise.

“We believe we’re a playoff team,” Giroux said.

Ottawa coach D.J. Smith called the winger a “real quiet guy” and someone who is ultra competitive. “He didn’t come here to just come home and play games. He wants to win, he wants to be part of this team being better,” Smith said. “He wants to be a part of pushing these guys, and he’s going to push himself — and I’m going to push him. The job of the coach is to get the best out of him.”

He said Giroux was “real serious about helping this team get to the next level.”

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His teammates look up to him.

“Everyone knows he’s been a star in this league for however many years now,” said the Sens’ Brady Tkachuk, a 23-year-old star left winger. “And just to be able to be on the same ice with him and to see his tendencies and work ethic, off and off the ice, I think it’s so contagious. He’s still pushing and he wants to be the best. I think it definitely translates to our group, and is really going to help us.”

Giroux had 23 points in 18 games with Florida after being dealt last season, and then added eight points in 10 playoff games. All told, he had 21 goals and 65 points in 75 combined regular-season games with the Flyers and Panthers in 2021-22.

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