Claude Giroux tries to win his first Stanley Cup in Florida.
The Philadelphia Flyers traded Giroux after hitting his 1,000.
The person spoke to the AP on Saturday on condition of anonymity because the trade was not announced.
The move strengthens Florida’s status as a Stanley Cup candidate, giving Alexander Barkov an elite linemate and one of the best faceoff aces in the NHL. The Panthers earlier in the week traded a first-round pick and more for Montreal defender Ben Chiarot.
Giroux was traded after raising his 1,000. Played with the Flyers and was celebrated on Thursday with a match in his honor. Designed in the first round in 2006, Giroux made his Philadelphia debut on February 19, 2008 and spent his entire career playing with the Flyers. He has 900 career points and is eighth on the Flyers career list with 291 goals. He helped the Flyers reach the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals and was named the All-Star MVP this season.
The flyers also bought forward Owen Tippett in the draft pick.
Giroux did not have to waive his motion clause, which was part of his $ 66.2 million, eight-year contract.
He entered the Hall of Famer and twice Stanley Cup champion Bobby Clarke as the only player to reach 1,000 games entirely with the Flyers. Giroux was named captain on January 15, 2013.
The Flyers have just 19 wins and are tied for last place in the Metropolitan Division.
It’s the second significant trade for Florida as the deadline comes, after the Panthers landed Chiarot.
The defender is expected to attend Florida next week when the Panthers play in Montreal. This will probably also be Giroux’s debut game with his new club.
It’s yet another clear sign that Florida is all-in to finally turn over its assets. The Panthers entered the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, the third season of the franchise.
They have not won a playoff series since, cycling through more than a dozen coaches, being moved from one build to another, often in front of an empty arena and pursued for years by rumors that they would be leaving Florida.
But this is as good as it ever was for the Panthers, who have the second-best record in the NHL coming in on Saturday, have a Hart Trophy contender in Jonathan Huberdeau, a half-dozen 20 goals this season already and an elite. Players locked up in Barkov for seven more years.
Plus, the Panthers have survived a ton of controversy this season.
The team saw Joel Quenneville coach seven unbeaten players this season as part of the fallout from the Chicago Blackhawks scandal involving an abused player – something that happened when Quenneville coached there for more than a decade. On Friday, the team watched as top defender Aaron Ekblad crawled to the bench in fear after suffering a lower leg injury in Anaheim. But by the end of the night, the team already had enough information to believe that Ekblad had avoided the kind of significant injury that could have ended his season and put a big dent in the title hopes for Florida.
The Flyers have long been out of the championship battle. But Giroux’s 1,000. Game was a rare opportunity to celebrate in Philadelphia. Clarke presented Giroux with the silver piece to mark the occasion, and he received a Rolex watch from his teammates and an NHL crystal. Giroux also played in 85 career playoff games for Philadelphia.
“The fans and the organization, my teammates have been so good to me for so many years and that’s one of the reasons it was quite emotional after the game,” Giroux said.
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