July 07, 2026
Eric Hartline/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Claude Giroux reportedly won't be rejoining the Flyers despite their interest in bringing him back.
There will be no reunion between the Flyers and their former captain.
Despite a recent media report from The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun – and even stronger innuendo from Flyers general manager Danny Brière – that Claude Giroux could be returning to the Flyers in free agency, Giroux will instead be going back to Ottawa, per Sportsnet's NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman, who reported that a new deal is all but done.
He will return to Ottawa, it is getting done https://t.co/LotkjuqKD6
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 7, 2026
The 38-year-old Giroux has spent the past three seasons with Ottawa after signing there in free agency following an 18-game stint with the Florida Panthers, who acquired the longtime Flyer in a trade at the deadline of the 2021-22 season.
Before that season, Giroux had spent his first 14 years with the Flyers, who drafted him 22nd overall in 2006. Giroux played 1,000 games for the Flyers and became the team's longest-standing captain, wearing the "C" from 2013 until the day he was traded.
The Flyers have been trying to upgrade their center position and are still awaiting a decision on Leo Carlsson, the star Anaheim center to whom they tendered a five-year, $90 million offer that the Ducks have a few more days to decide to match.
The flirtation with Giroux wouldn't have been nearly as splashy, but would've given the Flyers depth at the position and a veteran to help them continue to move forward after they made it back to the postseason for the first time in five years behind a mostly young, galvanized core that lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes in the second round of the playoffs.
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