(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Back in mid-July, former Flyer and NHL on NBC analyst Jeremy Roenick commented on Claude Giroux's struggles over the last few years. With the Flyers captain in a noticeable decline in recent years, Roenick said that it was all in Giroux's head.
"The reason why Claude Giroux doesn't get success is he lets everything get into his mind and he looks for other things to blame it on," Roenick said on Philly Sports Talk on CSN in July. "Claude Giroux can play this game and he can play it at a high, hard level. He's just got to get back into the inside of the game, start attacking the game and not worrying about what the media or the fans are saying about Claude Giroux, period. Because he is a world-class player that can make a difference, and that's why he has the 'C' on his chest."
Giroux's response: agreement.
“Yeah, I did [agree],” Giroux said to CSN Philly. “I don’t think there was anything negative about that. It was just about me proving who I am. He’s been in that position before and he knows how it feels. He said what I think."
There are certainly no hard feelings between Roenick and Giroux. Giroux noted that he is close with Roenick and that his approach can be similar to what made JR one of the best in the game.
"I’m actually close with Jeremy," Giroux said. "Jeremy’s a guy that when he played, he had a chip on his shoulder. He wanted to prove every game that he was better than everybody else. It’s about having that mentality."
When Roenick commented on Giroux's last few seasons, particularly a "bad-luck" year in 2016-17, he essentially challenged the Flyers captain to find that mentality again, calling Giroux one of his favorite players in the game. One way Giroux can find that is by starting the season with a clean bill of health.
Giroux spent last summer rehabbing offseason surgery, so after a full summer of training and preparing for the season, he is ready to prove everyone wrong about his decline.
"Every summer is about finding new ways to get better," Giroux said. "This summer, I didn’t have to rehab all summer, so I actually had a chance to work out and do what I used to do. It was more getting back to explosive stuff, getting stronger, getting faster. That’s what we did all summer."
The best way to turn things around for the Flyers captain is, as Roenick said, to just go head-on and play the game. That's Giroux's focus.
"It's about going out there and playing hockey," Giroux said. "That's what I know to do best is play hockey. Thinking about other things is not going to change anything how I play on the ice."
