Claude Giroux's long wait is over as he signs with an unexpected team

Claude Giroux is coming back to the Ottawa Senators, and insider Elliotte Friedman says the deal is getting done.

Friedman dropped the update Monday night, walking back an earlier line from just hours before.

Earlier Monday, Friedman said the Senators remained very much in the Giroux mix. Nothing was done yet, he cautioned then.

By the evening, the tone had shifted completely. "He will return to Ottawa, it is getting done," Friedman wrote.

Giroux gave Ottawa plenty of reasons to want him back. He put up 49 points this season, 14 goals and 35 assists across 82 games.

He added 12 power play assists and three game-winning goals, still finding soft spots on Ottawa's man advantage at age 38.

The playoffs told a different story. Giroux went scoreless across four games against the Carolina Hurricanes as his role shrank.

None of that will matter much if the next contract carries similar value. Giroux played this season on a cap hit of exactly $2,000,000.

A $2 million bargain the Senators can't walk away from

Steve Staios has run Ottawa's front office since November 2023. Letting a 49-point veteran leave for nothing would be a strange way to build depth.

The Senators finished 44-27-11 this season, good for 99 points and a plus-32 goal differential. That's a team that knows what it has in its top six.

Bringing back a 38-year-old center is a gamble no matter how team-friendly the cap number looks on paper. Some deals age well. This one is betting against the calendar.

Friedman never mentioned term, dollars or a signing date. Until pen actually hits paper, "getting done" is still just two words on a phone screen Monday night.