Trade Grade: Philadelphia Flyers Trade Claude Giroux to the Florida Panthers

Image Credit: (Eric Hartline/USA Today Sports)

The NHL Trade Deadline has been crazy with the amount of trades made. One player that many predicted to be traded is Claude Giroux. The Trade has now been official as the Philadelphia Flyers and Florida Panthers have agreed on a deal involving Claude Giroux. Before we get into the details of the trade, I want to shoutout fellow Moore Than Sports writer Maeve Hushman who also contributed to this article.

Philadelphia Flyers Acquire:  F Owen Tippett, a conditional 2024 1st round pick, 2023 3rd round pick
Florida Panthers Acquire: F Claude Giroux, F Connor Bunnaman, F German Rubtsov, and a 2024 5th Round Pick

Now the 1st Round Pick the Philadelphia Flyers received is a conditional pick. The Conditions follow below
– If the 2024 1st round pick is in the Top 10 than Philadelphia will instead receive Florida’s 2025 1st round pick.

Philadelphia Flyers Side: This year has been an absolute disaster and the team needs to go in full rebuild mode right now. Or a full retool right now as Chuck Fletcher is describing this time for the Flyers. No matter what is going on in Philadelphia (I still have no idea what their plan is) there is one thing that we can agree on. This was a move that was inevitable to happen. It was no longer a matter of when anymore. It was about How Giroux will be traded. He is 33 years old and is not the future for the Flyers. It is best to trade him now as his contract expires at the end of the season for something before they lose him for nothing. Although the Flyers retain 50% of his salary they save around 4.14 million dollars. They get to grow their draft capital which is a benefit for a rebuild. Owen Tippett is a solid prospect that could develop well with time. But this return is super pathetic and they could have gotten so much more for Giroux but then again Giroux had a no trade clause and they had to honor what team he wanted to go to.

Even though the haul for Giroux looks somewhat pathetic, it should be noted that the Colorado Avalanche had put together a more substantial package for the veteran forward, but Giroux wanted to go to Florida. There were multiple teams in on Giroux including the Bruins and the Rangers, both of which Giroux refused to be traded to. In the end, he wanted to be a Panther and Fletcher honored the wishes of a player who gave so much to the Flyers organization, instead of refusing the trade. It is the least Fletcher could do after wasting Giroux’s talent for the past few years

Florida Panthers Side: The Florida Panthers have not won a playoff series since 1996. This year they look like one of the best teams in the league and are a popular pick to come out of the East or even win the cup. They recognize that this is their year and they are not going to let the opportunity pass them. While the Panthers most glaring issues appear to be in net, adding another top forward to your team to make sure you can always outscore your opponents is not a bad idea. This is an incredibly risky move for the Panthers to make. Just look at there draft capital in three years. All I have to say is Yikes. The Panthers have no 1st round picks in (2022-2024) and No 2nd round picks in (2022 or 2024). The Panthers have traded in their futures for this year. Hopefully it all pays off and Giroux comes up big for them.

The value is not all on Giroux as the Panthers received decent prospects in German Rubtsov and Connor Bunnaman. Rubtsov is more of a defensive player and is not the best skating or on offense. But showed flashes of improvement in the KHL. Connor Bunnaman is a gritty and tall player but like Rubtsov he is not the best skater. Maybe A change of scenery was needed for both prospects and it helps getting away from the Philadelphia Flyers broken developmental system.

The Stats In Question

Grades For Claude Giroux Trade
Philadelphia Flyers: B-
Florida Panthers: A-

This was a tough one to grade and of course the Panthers have leverage in this deal as they got the star player in Claude Giroux. The reason why the minus grade is here as there is a lot of risk that is following this deal and it could backfire if a) they don’t re-sign Giroux or b) they don’t win the Stanley Cup this season. The Flyers side I don’t hate the trade as this was a move that had to be made. But they could have gotten a lot more in this deal and the Flyers still have no plan in what they are doing to fix the issues of the team. Overall solid move by both teams.