Montreal Canadiens: Revisiting the Claude Giroux Rumours

There were rumours that the Montreal Canadiens may have been pursuing Claude Giroux, which could still be an option since they haven’t acquired a centre yet.

We’re slowly entering the final month of the summer. After that, the offseason will be over and training camps will begin for the Montreal Canadiens and the other 30 NHL teams.

GM Marc Bergevin‘s goals for this offseason were to acquire more defencemen and a centre. He’s already completed one of his goals through trades and free agency. The Canadiens started by acquiring David Schlemko from the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2019 fifth round pick. Then on July 1st, they took the opportunity to sign Karl Alzner to a five-year contract.

Additionally, the Habs allowed Mark Streit to have his homecoming experience signing him to a one-year deal. Bergevin signed other defencemen as well in Joseph Morrow and Matt Taormina. However, these two look destined to start the season with the Laval Rocket.

The team has yet to acquire another impact centre. Alex Galchenyuk was able to avoid salary arbitration by agreeing to a three-year contract making $4.9 million per season, but it’s hard to say if management actually sees him as a top line centre.

Related Story: Pursuing John Tavares

Which brings us back to some rumours. According to TSN’s Bob Mckenzie, there had been rumours floating around the draft that linked the Montreal Canadiens to Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers. McKenzie however made it very clear that those rumours were just rumours and nothing more.

Should the Habs Try to Acquire Giroux?

It’s a tough question to answer. At the surface, he fits the bill in being a top-line centre that the Habs need. Giroux had a down year offensively, but still put up decent numbers scoring 14 goals and 44 assists. Overall, the 29-year-old is set to give you at least 65 points a season.

Some are married to the fact that he is in the beginning of his decline. With the issues the entire Flyer’s team had this season, it’s safe to say that we can consider this year, that wasn’t even that bad, to be a write-off. Giroux is still an elite playmaker that can change the outcome of a game in an instant.

The biggest turn off from a possible Giroux trade is his contract. The Ontario-native has five more years left at $8.275 million per. That’s a lot of money to say the least. Montreal would have the room to fit him though with nearly $8.5 million in cap space. Additionally, Tomas Plekanec is almost a lock to hit free agency. That would be another $6 million off the cap.

Another issue with trading for Giroux is his no-movement clause. If a trade were to be developed, he would have to waive his close in order for it to be completed.

At the time, Galchenyuk had not been signed and was being floated as a trade piece. It’s possible that he still very well could despite signing that bridge deal. However, with the rights Giroux has from his contract, a deal like this would be very difficult to make.

Next: Possible 2017-2018 Line-Up

Would it be a good idea to try to pursue Giroux? What other options are there for centres that the Canadiens could trade for? Let us know what you think in the comments!

All stats in this post are from Hockey-reference.com. Team and player contract numbers are from Capfriendly.com.