There will be no reunion between the Flyers and their former captain.<\/p>\n
Despite a recent media report from The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun<\/a> \u2013 and even stronger innuendo from Flyers general manager\u00a0Danny Bri\u00e8re<\/a> \u2013 that Claude Giroux could be returning to the Flyers in free agency, Giroux will instead be going back to Ottawa, per Sportsnet’s\u00a0NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman<\/a>, who reported that a new deal is all but done.<\/p>\n The 38-year-old Giroux has spent the past three seasons with Ottawa after signing there in free agency following an 18-game stint with the Florida Panthers, who acquired the longtime Flyer in a trade at the deadline of the 2021-22 season.<\/p>\n Before that season, Giroux had spent his first 14 years with the Flyers, who drafted him 22nd overall in 2006. Giroux played 1,000 games for the Flyers and became the team’s longest-standing captain, wearing the “C” from 2013 until the day he was traded.<\/p>\n The Flyers have been trying to upgrade their center position and are still awaiting a decision on Leo Carlsson, the star Anaheim center to whom they tendered a five-year, $90 million offer<\/a> that the Ducks have a few more days to decide to match.<\/p>\n The flirtation with Giroux wouldn’t have been nearly as splashy, but would’ve given the Flyers depth at the position<\/a> and a veteran to help them continue to move forward after they made it back to the postseason for the first time in five years behind a mostly young, galvanized core that lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes in the second round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n SIGN UP HERE<\/a> to receive PhillyVoice’s Sports newsletters.<\/p>\n Follow Geoff on Twitter\/X: @geoffpmosher<\/a><\/p>\n