PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Flyers captain Claude Giroux is the longest-tenured professional athlete currently playing in Philadelphia — having made his debut in 2008. Despite his longevity and individual accomplishments in this team's history, Giroux has never experienced the team success of other athletes who have played in Philadelphia for as long as he has.
Eagles greats Brandon Graham — who’s still here — Jason Peters and Brent Celek are Super Bowl champs. Phillies icons Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels were on World Series-winning teams.
Giroux played in a Stanley Cup Final early in his career when the Flyers lost to Chicago in six games in 2010. The '11 and '12 teams made it to the second round. However, the nine seasons since then have seen the organization miss the postseason every other year — assuming this team ends up failing to make the cut, which appears to be the case.
"I think last year we took a huge step forward from the year before. And not being able to get another step forward, it’s definitely very frustrating in the position we’re in right now," the 33-year-old Giroux said prior to the Flyers 3-2 win over the New York Rangers Thursday. "I don’t think we saw each other being in this position at this point of the year, so it’s confusing and frustrating."
Last season, when the Flyers skyrocketed to the Eastern Conference top seed in the Toronto coronavirus quarantine bubble, they advanced past the first round for the first time since 2012. And they were one win away from making it to the Eastern Conference finals in Edmonton.
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This season is definitely a step back.
Giroux said the goal over the remainder of the season is to try to win every game, despite their slim playoff chances. The team will need to answer a lot of questions in the offseason about why they couldn’t build on their success in 2019-20.
Another matter for Giroux to consider is his contract, which has one more season left. He has been captain for nine seasons — the entire length of this every-other-year trend — which is uncommon in Flyers history.
Giroux is one of the best players in franchise history, and arguably underappreciated in Philly sports, because of his team's lack of postseason success. One is left to wonder: How much longer will he be a Flyer? And will he ever get to experience the postseason glory typical for players of his stature?