What they're saying: Claude Giroux trade makes Florida a hockey destination

The NHL trade deadline has come and gone.

The Flyers got the hard part over with late Saturday when they completed the trade to send Claude Giroux to the Florida Panthers. On Monday, just a couple of relatively minor transactions followed, with Justin Braun getting dealt to the New York Rangers and Derick Brassard to the Edmonton Oilers.

Normally when we do these types of articles, they're a roundup of thoughts and analysis from outlets around the Delaware Valley, and the national ones if there's any ground to cover.

There's still some local coverage to highlight, but with the Flyers selling at the deadline and shifting more towards player evaluations for their last 20 games, let's try changing things up and see what the media in Florida, New York, and Edmonton are saying about their newest acquisitions.

First, here's a quick summary of the Flyers' deadline moves:

Okay, let's dive in.

28 in the Sunshine State

George Richards | FloridaHockeyNow

Claude Giroux was introduced as a Florida Panther on Monday then had his first skate with the team. Seeing him in red and navy is going to take some getting used to.

George Richards covered the introductory press conference, and confirmed that Giroux will hold on to the No. 28 and is expected to be on the top line with center and captain Sasha Brakov, and breakout winger Carter Verhaeghe.

“If I have a chance to play on his line...it’ll be like the first time going to school, just giggling a little bit,” Giroux said. [FloridaHockeyNow]

Also want to point out that the orange-palmed gloves made the trip down with him.

Destination Sunrise

David Wilson | The Miami Herald

For the Panthers, who lead the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference with 90 points, getting Giroux meant more than just acquiring high-end talent for a playoff run. It meant that the team is a destination now (Giroux did waive his no-movement clause to sign off on the trade, after all).

Writes David Wilson:

"Giroux is the biggest prize anyone landed this week.

He was an All-Star for the seventh time this season and the Most Valuable Player of the 2022 NHL All-Star Game last month. He has 18 goals and 24 assists in 57 games this season, and 900 points in his career. As recently as 2018, he was a true superstar, finishing fourth in Hart Memorial Trophy voting.

Now 34, he’s not good enough to single-handedly carry an awful team like Philadelphia, but he can still be one of the best complementary players on one of the best teams in the league." [Miami Herald]

Giroux's legacy

Giana Han | The Inquirer

You don't just trade a once-in-a-lifetime player like Giroux then move on. He left Philadelphia with an incredible legacy, but now has to find the happy ending for it somewhere else, as Giana Han chronicles.

His current and former teammates, and even a longtime competitor, are pulling for him.

"The Flyers logo on his chest is just as big a part of who Giroux is. Even rivals, like the Washington Capitals’ Nicklas Bäckström, recently said they can’t picture him in any other jersey.

“I think that would be hard to see,” Bäckström said." [The Inquirer]

• MORE ON THE FLYERS
• Flyers shift to what's next after unsurprising trade deadline
  
• Flyers trade Claude Giroux to Florida Panthers
  
• Claude Giroux's 1000th game: a celebration and a fond farewell
  

Rangers get better

Larry Brooks | New York Post

Along with Braun, the Rangers also brought in Andrew Copp from Winnipeg and Tyler Motte from Vancouver to balance out their forward depth. The moves have Larry Brooks believing that New York walked away from the trade deadline a better team.

On Braun specifically:

"It is unclear whether Braun will bump Braden Schneider to street clothes on the third pair or whether the defense-oriented 35-year-old who has played 12 years on the right would attempt to move to the left side, thus bumping Patrik Nemeth from the lineup.

There is this to consider: Gallant generally sits Schneider for the last 10-12 minutes of a game. Nemeth’s time is reduced in crunch time as well. Cutting the bench becomes a challenge in the postseason. Braun also was on the Flyers’ top PK unit. Gallant might want to use him in place of Adam Fox in certain shorthand situations to give No. 23 a blow." [New York Post]

Yes, but...

Arthur Staples | The Athletic

Arthur Staples also thinks the Rangers came out of the trade deadline looking more like a contender, but questioned what the Braun deal means for New York's blue line.

"The only head-scratcher of deadline day was Braun, a 35-year-old with 100 playoff games under his belt. He’s a right-shot, right-side-only defenseman.

Braden Schneider can play the left side, but Braun’s acquisition hints at a Nemeth-Braun pair rather than the Rangers’ seeming goal of picking up a veteran lefty to pair with Schneider.

A league source said the Rangers were in on Red Wings defenseman Nick Leddy, who went to the Blues on Monday for a second-round pick and two players. That might have been too high a price for Drury to pay for a third-pair defenseman, but even a 2023 third gives you the feeling the Rangers are not bringing in Braun just for moral support." [The Athletic]

Oilers unimpressed

Robert Tychkowski | Edmonton Journal

Edmonton seems...underwhelmed by the Oilers moves.

The lede to Robert Tychkowski's column: "Every story analyzing what the Edmonton Oilers did at the trade deadline Monday should probably begin with: 'No offence to Brett Kulak or Derick Brassard.'"

He makes clear that Brassard and Kulak, a defenseman the Oilers picked up from Montreal, are good depth acquisitions. But they were made at a critical point in Edmonton's progression with the core of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The Oilers might have needed more.

"Up front, getting Brassard and his 117 games of playoff experience from Philadelphia for a fourth-round pick is a low-risk addition that could come in handy, especially with Josh Archibald reduced to a part-time player because of his vaccine stance.

These are sneaky good additions, but with the Oilers picking up speed down the stretch and at a time and place in their evolution where anything less than advancing in the playoffs is abject failure, coming away from Monday with just a couple of depth deals could seem a little underwhelming.

Fans hoping for a big splash or statement deal from general manager Ken Holland came away disappointed. Anyone wanting the Oilers to go all in on this season will have to wait another year." [Edmonton Journal]

Now what?

Charlie O'Connor | The Athletic

Finally, let's take things back to Philadelphia. The Flyers are likely going to be a different team in the next couple of years, but how?

From Charlie O'Connor:

"Fletcher is facing a tough task. Changing the roster won’t be the hardest part — improving it will be. After all, right now, the Flyers’ biggest problem — even when healthy — is a lack of raw talent in comparison to the best clubs in the league. In order to improve in a meaningful way, Fletcher will need to be acquiring the better player in not just one deal this offseason, but multiple deals.

And that really was the underlying disappointment of the trade deadline for the Flyers, amid its unspectacular nature. Yes, Fletcher acquired more assets. But he didn’t acquire so many that the path to dramatically improving the club in the coming months has been blindingly clear, especially given the loss of Giroux. It still looks like an extremely tough road for Fletcher, who can’t afford a third consecutive offseason that ultimately sets the Flyers on the road to further disappointment." [The Athletic]

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