PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — When the Flyers drafted Claude Giroux in 2006, then-general manager Bob Clarke accidentally forgot the player’s name when announcing him in Vancouver.
Who would have thought that nearly 15 years later, Giroux would pass Hall of Famer Clarke’s record for the most games played as Flyers captain.
Giroux, the longest-tenured current athlete in Philadelphia sports — who made his debut in February 2008 — has played 611 games for the Flyers as their captain, a role he’s held since 2013. That’s one more than Clarke.
“It’s a great honor,” Giroux told NBC Sports Philadelphia after the Flyers defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-3. “Mr. Clarke had an amazing career and he’s truly a ‘Mr. Flyer.’ To be able to be in the same boat as him, it’s a great honor.”
While it’s certainly a notable feat to surpass Clarke — a champion, Hall of Famer and arguably the greatest Flyer ever — on this list, Giroux recognized his legacy is missing something that Clarke accomplished during his day.
“Since I’m captain, it’s not a secret — we haven’t gone far. We haven’t had a lot of success, but we’re looking to the future and the team that we have right now. We have a lot of depth, we believe in each other, so it’s very exciting to be able to build something with these guys that we have right now.”
The Flyers have won only one playoff series since Giroux has been captain, but that was this past summer during the Toronto bubble when they took down the Montreal Canadiens, ending a seven-year drought without clinching a postseason series. They were also one win away from moving on to the Eastern Conference Final.
This current Flyers team has a lot of promise and high expectations. It would be fitting to see 33-year-old Giroux make a deep run in the playoffs at this point in his career.