By Dan Heaning, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
With the season just underway late Friday night, the Philadelphia Flyers are back and so is one of the best leaders in franchise history: Claude Giroux.
Flyers fans may not have had much to cheer about in the last four years with only two postseason appearances, both of which ending in the opening round, but one thing the fans can always count on as a blessing is the franchise’s current captain.
The captaincy for the Flyers has been relatively unstable for quite some time. Before Giroux, the “C” rested on Chris Pronger’s chest for one season, most of which the defender sat out with a career-ending eye injury.
Before Pronger, Mike Richards held the mantle of captain for three seasons. That was as stable as the position was for years.
Prior to Richards, the captaincy bounced around to veterans Jason Smith, Peter Forsberg and Derian Hatcher for a season at a time. Keith Primeau held on to the captaincy for a few seasons. Since Eric Desjardins relinquished the title early in the 2000-01 season until extremely early in the 2005-06 season, Primeau held the title. That seems like a good deal of time, but remember the entire 2004-05 season was lost to a lockout.
Ironically, Eric Lindros is the one who provided the most stability in the position in the last 20-plus years. His reign of five full seasons and most of the 1999-2000 season is the longest tenure of a Flyers captain since Bobby Clarke.
With Giroux’s time holding the mantle, the captaincy has stabilized onto one player who has been allowed to grow into the role. That time and patience has given Giroux the opportunity to rise up the ranks of point producing Flyers captains, particularly last season when he passed Mike Richards in December.
Now, entering his fifth season as captain, the Flyers star center can meet and exceed some high marks in franchise history.
Giroux is just 42 points shy of matching Dave Poulin’s 316 tally as captain. Poulin is third among those who have donned the "C" in goals, assists and points and second in total games played.
By adding three more assists, Giroux will pass Poulin’s 188 mark. However, Giroux would need to score 40 goals to match Poulin’s total.
If Giroux can play in 23 games, he’ll bypass Ed Van Impe for fourth on the all-time captain’s list. If he plays in 71 contests, he’ll match Lindros’ 360 games served as captain as well.
It appears, in terms of point production, that Giroux has ascended to the franchise’s most recognized leaders.
With that in mind, being captain isn’t all about regular-season point production. So where does Giroux rank among the Flyers captains?
While all the stats mentioned above are quite the feat, Giroux is nowhere near the likes of Lindros, Poulin or Richards in playoff points as captain.
Lindros has 56 playoff points in 48 postseason outings. Poulin has 35 in 57. Richards has 35 in 40.
Unfortunately for Giroux, he doesn’t come anywhere near those totals. He’s only played in 13 playoff games with the "C" sewn on his sweater. In that baker’s dozen of postseason tilts, he didn’t produce all that much either.
Granted all the 2013-14 New York Rangers and 2015-16 Washington Capitals had to do in their respective playoff series against the Orange and Black was focus on Giroux and linemate Jake Voracek and victory was assured.
When you look at the playoff numbers, Giroux is ninth in total playoff games as a Flyers captain. This puts him below Jason Smith and ahead of Lou Angotti. Both players were in Philadelphia for only one season.
In terms of points, he’s one point better than Bill Barber. The former Flyers left wing and head coach served as captain for only one campaign and, therefore, played in only four postseason tilts with the title.
So, terms of production, Giroux has indeed risen to the occasion in the regular season but that hasn’t meant too much come the postseason nor has it resulted in many playoff berths.
Yet, when it has resulted in a playoff birth, his opponents focus primarily on him and the much needed primary scoring hasn’t happened.
With Giroux now 28 years old, there is also speculation of when Giroux’s time as an elite level forward will pass him by.
He does appear to be trending down. Since his 93-point breakout in the 2011-12 campaign, Giroux’s production has declined from his 1.2 points per game during that season to 1 in 2012-13 then rose slightly to 1.04 in 2013-2014 and dropped to .90 in 2014-2015 and .85 last season.
However, 28 isn’t a graveyard. Players like Ryan Getzlaf have overcome sags in production when in their late 20s. In fact, Getzlaf’s second best season as an NHLer came as a 28-year-old.
With the youth movement coming closer and closer due to the likes of Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov making the Flyers roster this season, Giroux may not have to be an elite playmaker anymore if those players become as good as they are advertised.
However, the team will absolutely need Giroux for leadership to guide those young players along. He’s proven he can hoist a team on his back for a regular season, a playoff shift, game and series.
The only thing he’ll need to prove from this point out is can he do the same for an entire playoff. That’s the most valuable asset a 28-year-old Giroux brings to this team.
