What? Claude Giroux Omitted from No-Doubt Active Hall of Famers Lists

The headline was intriguing, and worth a click. Surely, there were no current Philadelphia Flyers. But surely there must be a former Flyer or two.

The 10 No-Doubt Future Hockey Hall of Famers Currently Active in the NHL … said the headline in Bleacher Report.

The scroll through the list started.

1. Sidney Crosby. OK, right?
2. Marc Andre-Fleury. Yeah, especially after you read his stats and accomplishments. Three Stanley Cups, 544 wins (third, all-time), 73 shutouts (12th, all-time), 985 games (4th, all-time)
3. Patrick Kane. Three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks, Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy, Calder Trophy. 451 goals, 786 assists. And … he could have been, should have been a Flyer.
4. Erik Karlsson. Three Norris Trophy wins. Became the 15th defenseman to reach 100 points in a season.
5. Anze Kopitar. Two Cups with the Kings. 1,141 points (11th all time among Europeans.)
6. Evgeni Malkin. Guess so.
7. Connor McDavid. The best player in the current game. 1.49 points per game (fourth all-time), Art Ross Trophy (5), Hart Trophy (3).
8. Alex Ovechkin. An obvious choice. He has a real chance to surpass Wayne Gretzky for most goals scored.
9. Steven Stamkos. Two Cups, 515 goals. Hard to keep him out.
10. Jonathan Toews. Three Cups, great leader of the Blackhawks.

OK, solid list. No current Flyers. No former Flyers.

Wait, there are five honorable mentions: Leon Draisaitl, Victor Hedman, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The selections seem solid. There are outstanding players in this era.

Forgot One Name

We question one omission.

Claude Giroux.

Is he a Hockey Hall of Famer? If you want to quibble with the top 10, that’s fine. But Giroux isn’t among the top 15? The honorable mentions are aspirational. Yes, they are great players and if they have long, productive careers, they would be on a Hall of Fame track. Giroux’s accomplishments are already in the books — and he’s still playing.

Giroux, now with the Ottawa Senators, has played 1,100 games over 16 seasons. He played 15 seasons with the Flyers, 18 games with the Panthers in 2022 and last season with the Senators.

He has scored 329 goals and 673 assists (1,002 points). Giroux is a plus-38 player.

His teams made the playoffs nine times in 16 years. In the playoffs, he played 95 games and scored 28 goals and 53 assists (81 points). He made the finals in the Flyers’ improbable run of 2010 and scored 10 goals and 11 assists in 23 games.

For what it’s worth, Giroux has more points per game (.911) than two forwards on the Future Hall of Fame list: Anze Kopitar (.897) and Jonathan Toews (.828). He also has more points per game than numerous players already in the Hall, including Lanny McDonald (.905), Yvan Cournoyer (.892), Johnny Bucyk (.889), Norm Ullman (.872), Brendan Shanahan (.888), Steve Shutt (.878), Pete Mahovolich (.875), Henrik Sedin (.805), Daniel Sedin (.797), Marian Hossa (.866), and Jarome Iginla (.837).

Let’s look at the sixth sense. Does Giroux “feel” like a Hall of Famer? Does he stack up with intangibles, leadership, non-quantifiable aspects of being an NHL star?

Giroux is a killing me softly candidate. Never won any big awards. Led the league in assists in one season. One 100-point season. No Stanley Cups. But he has scored 1,000 points.

Playing on some bad Flyers teams doesn’t help his case. Only scoring 28 playoff goals in 95 games doesn’t help, either.

Longevity is necessary to get into the Hall. Giroux has that. Scoring 1,000 points would seem to be his ticket to Toronto.

Giroux became a forever Flyers hero on April 22, 2012. In the opening seconds of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Giroux planted Crosby with a shoulder check. On the same shift, 32 seconds into the game, Giroux scored. The Flyers went onto win the game, 5-1, and eliminate the Penguins in six games.

That one shift doesn’t put you in the Hockey Hall of Fame but it did elevate Giroux to legendary status in Philly.

If I had a Hockey Hall of Fame vote, I’d vote Giroux in. Because of his Flyers background? No.

Because he deserves it.

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