Sielski: Giroux faces his idol, Pavel Datsyuk
Claude Giroux saw a man make magic years ago. Maybe it was in 2007, just before Giroux played his first game for the Flyers. He couldn't remember exactly when, but 2007 is a good guess. That was when Pavel Datsyuk was 29 years old and at the apex of his c
Claude Giroux saw a man make magic years ago. Maybe it was in 2007, just before Giroux played his first game for the Flyers. He couldn't remember exactly when, but 2007 is a good guess. That was when Pavel Datsyuk was 29 years old and at the apex of his career with the Detroit Red Wings, and Giroux was just 19, a long way from becoming the Flyers' captain and an NHL superstar, still green enough to marvel over another player's powers and wonder whether he himself would someday be skilled and confident enough to be called his idol's equal.
The Red Wings were in a shootout, and on his attempt, Datsyuk skated to within a foot of the goaltender, shifting the puck on his stick from forehand to backhand, before pulling the puck backward, away from the goalie, and lifting it into the top half of the net. It was like watching an old man fool his grandson with a which-hand-is-the-quarter-in trick, and it took Giroux's breath away. He spent years trying to master the move himself.
"It was just so hard to do," Giroux said. "It took me a while to get it. The things he does out there are pretty amazing. He plays the right way. When the third period comes, it looks like he finds another level, and he controls the game as only one player. It's fun to watch."
There is perhaps no player more respected around the NHL than Datsyuk - 37 years old now, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, a four-time winner of the Lady Byng Trophy as the league's most gentlemanly player, a three-time winner of the Selke Award as its best defensive forward, so gifted that he has averaged close to a point a game over his 14 seasons. He and the Red Wings come to Philadelphia for a rather important game on Tuesday night, leading the Flyers by three points for the Eastern Conference's final playoff berth, carrying with them a 24-year streak of reaching the postseason.
"We're the team trying to make that streak end," Giroux said after the Flyers practiced Monday, and he cut his comment with just the slightest dash of envy. The Flyers missed the postseason in two of the previous three seasons and were expected to miss it again this season, and Giroux would like to be for them what Datsyuk has been for the Red Wings: a franchise mainstay at the center of a long period of consistent excellence, a player whose value cannot be measured merely by his offensive production, a locker room's beating heart. Giroux has been here eight years already. He signed an eight-year contract extension in 2013. He has that chance.
"Anybody who spends his whole career in one place, it's something to be proud of, especially when it's in Philly," Giroux said. "I really feel at home here and obviously would love to play the rest of my career here."
That the Flyers, under general manager Ron Hextall, have taken a more patient approach to becoming an elite team again has not bothered Giroux. They made no major move at this year's trade deadline, and there was a time during Giroux's tenure when they would have, just for the sake of a playoff push. Hell, he was here in 2011, when Paul Holmgren changed the roster's complexion by saying goodbye to Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, when the notion of trading a player of Giroux's stature would have been a realistic possibility. But Hextall wasn't about to sacrifice his vision for a short-term payoff, and despite his desire to play meaningful hockey in the spring again, Giroux understood why. "We like our team," he said. "We like the way we play. We didn't feel like we needed more players for now."
Besides, the fear that Giroux will be beyond his best hockey by the time the Flyers might be ready to compete for a Stanley Cup seems misplaced, given that he is just 28, given how well-rounded his game is and has always been. He has won 57.1 percent of his faceoffs this season, the fifth-best percentage in the league among players who have taken at least 300, and though his linemate Jake Voracek hasn't played in three weeks because of a foot injury, Giroux still has scored 14 points over his last 15 games.
"You know he's going to put up points," Voracek said, "but I think he's paying attention to details more lately. When you look at the faceoffs, when you look at the defense, when you look at the positioning, playing the puck up the ice, he's been outstanding. Even if he doesn't show up on the scoreboard, you can tell he's doing a lot of things right. G is a spectacular player."
It was the sort of thing someone would say about the man Giroux still admires so much, still aspires to emulate. Here come Pavel Datsyuk and the Red Wings on Tuesday night, for the biggest game of the Flyers' season, and here comes a chance for Claude Giroux to make some magic of his own, when his team needs him most.
@MikeSielski