Edmonton Oilers

Claude Giroux Picks Team?: Considered Flyers, Oilers, and Senators

While he seriously considered the Oilers and Senators, it appears Claude Giroux is going back to the Philadelphia Flyers.

by
NHL Trade Talk
July 3, 2026

Claude Giroux appears to be going home. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports that Giroux will sign with the Philadelphia Flyers, ending a free-agency search that, by all accounts, was genuinely up in the air right up until the decision.

It’s a fitting landing spot, but the road to get there wasn’t a straight line. Reporting on Giroux’s markets shifted by the hour this week. Pagnotta himself had indicated Giroux hadn’t made up his mind, with Ottawa and Philadelphia the two known suitors and a caveat that other teams could still be lurking. Then, on The Sheet, Pagnotta relayed that Giroux was seriously considering Edmonton, with Ottawa still very much in the mix — and Philadelphia, at that point, reportedly out of the running entirely. Oilers Now host Bob Stauffer even said it wouldn’t surprise him if Edmonton got involved, name-checking Philly and Ottawa as presumed competition.

Through all of that back-and-forth, one signal pointed toward Philadelphia staying live: a Flyers source told The Athletic the team expected Giroux to sign a one-year deal to return to the club. If Pagnotta’s report is accurate, that turned out to be true.

At 38, Giroux led the entire NHL in faceoff percentage this past season at 61.5%, and still put up 49 points. He posted a 59% on-ice goals percentage, is a right-shot center capable of sliding to wing, and has been remarkably durable and productive since leaving Philadelphia the first time, racking up 288 points in 325 regular-season games.

Market projections had pegged him around a one-year, $2.5 million deal. It will be intriguing to see what he gets on this deal. It will likely be heavily incentivized by bonuses.

For Philadelphia, it’s a full-circle story: the franchise’s longtime captain, traded away in 2022, coming back to close out his career where it started. For a Flyers team that made the playoffs and is looking to build further, adding a proven faceoff specialist and locker-room presence at a reasonable price is a low-risk, feel-good way to round out the roster.

Next: BREAKING: Flyers Sign Leo Carlsson to Offer Sheet Worth $18M AAV