Claude Giroux turned down the Toronto Maple Leafs this week and chose to stay put with the Ottawa Senators instead.
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen reported Wednesday that Giroux considered offers from the Flyers, the Maple Leafs and the Oilers before deciding to remain in Ottawa.
Bruce Garrioch: Re Claude Giroux/Senators: After considering offers from the Flyers, Maple Leafs and Oilers, along with others, Giroux wants to stay to help the likes of Stutzle, Chabot, Sanderson, Pinto, Batherson and Cozens make the next step.
The 38-year-old center just wrapped a season with 14 goals, 35 assists and 49 points across 82 games, plus a plus-20 rating that led all Senators forwards.
Toronto came calling under brand new leadership. Jim Hiller was hired as Maple Leafs head coach on June 17, and adding a veteran like Giroux to that locker room would have been a real message to the group.
Instead, Giroux picked the young core he already knows. Garrioch's report says he wants to stay and help Tim Stutzle, Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, Shane Pinto, Drake Batherson and Dylan Cozens take the next step.
That's not a small commitment for a guy his age. Most players in Giroux's spot chase one more shot with a bigger contender, not another year mentoring a team still finding its identity.
Ottawa finished the regular season 44-27-11 for 99 points, good for ninth overall, before Carolina eliminated the Senators in four straight games in the first round.
Toronto's brutal finish made this recruiting pitch tougher
The Maple Leafs were never going to be an easy sell on paper. Toronto stumbled to a 32-36-14 finish, good for 28th overall, and closed the year on a seven-game losing streak.
Their last 10 games read 2-7-1, capped by a 1-3 loss in Ottawa on April 15, the same building where Giroux just decided his future belonged.
And that head-to-head history says plenty. Ottawa beat Toronto three times in four meetings this season, including that final matchup, with the Maple Leafs' only win coming at home back on December 27.
Giroux staying is the right call for Ottawa, and it's not close. Losing a locker room presence like him to a division rival while your young core is still figuring out the schedule would have stung for years.
Think of Giroux right now as the veteran mechanic who already knows where every rattle in the engine comes from. Stutzle, Sanderson and Pinto are still learning the sound of their own car.
Shane Pinto posted 23 goals and 23 assists this season, Jake Sanderson chipped in 54 points from the back end, and Drake Batherson delivered 71 points. None of them have Giroux's playoff mileage yet.
The Flyers and Oilers walk away empty-handed here, and that's a real swing for both franchises heading into an offseason still shaping their own forward depth.
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Whatever Ottawa's front office put in front of Giroux, it worked. The bigger question now is whether this Senators core can actually deliver the next step he's sticking around for.
Did Claude Giroux make the right call turning down the Maple Leafs to stay in Ottawa?
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