Flyers Should Look Into Moving Claude Giroux or Jakub Voracek
By Santagata JJ
Hearing these words may be tough to swallow, you may consider not continuing to read on. But Philadelphia Flyer fans hear me out. With the recent speculation of the Flyers opening their ears to trade talks on Claude Giroux, may be the best thing for this team.
Either he or Voracek needs to be moved and it’s inevitable one of the two will be moved within the next years or so. Since the Flyers remarkable eleven game win streak back in December, they have won just four games in regulation. Four games over a month and a half, questions begin to arise and management understands something needs to be addressed.
Philadelphia has always been a very inconsistent team. Streaky to better describe it, but this year they’ve had their fair share of struggles.
Defensive and Goaltending struggles
Shayne Gostisbehere logging a -22 +/-, and collecting sixteen of his twenty-four points on the power play. The 23-year-old defensemen has played “poor” over fifty-three games. Being scratched on numerous occasions this year just adds salt to the wound there.
In addition to Ghost’s poor play, the Flyer defense is just mediocre at best, with a lot of young talent in the system there is not much panic right now but it’s hard to say this defense is anything better than mediocre. Realistically the Flyers probably have one of the worst defensive cores in the league.
I know how much Flyers fan love big ‘ol Radko Gudas, I’m sorry, but for these guys to be a bubble top 4 defensemen logging eighteen minutes per game speaks for itself. On top of all that since the ten game win streak Steve Mason has been bad, very bad.
Since the ten win streak, Mason has collected just three wins over the course of a month and a half. During the 38 games Mason has started he’s recorded 16 wins and 17 losses, posting a 2.90 GAA and .900 save percentage. Yeah, that’s bad and truly the root of many of the Flyer’s problems right now.
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Why it makes sense to move Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek
Now, hear me out. Since the Flyer’s win streak Giroux has recorded just 12 points over 27 games and at one point Giroux went 12 games without scoring a goal. Being the #1 forward on this Philadelphia team, 12 goals through 59 games doesn’t cut it. Five of those goals coming off the power play as well, which means Giroux has only scored 7 even strength goals.
Seven goals during 5 on 5, raises some serious concerns. Despite Giroux’s lack of offense lately, the 29-year-old forward holds a great deal of return. The Flyers will definitely be able to receive a top 2 defensemen for him. Or even a solid #1 goaltender. With the defensive prospects the Flyers have in the system, someone needs to be an outlet for these young guns.
I don’t think Mark Streit, Michael Del Zotto or Andrew MacDonald provide that. In addition to that Giroux has yet to be a 30 goal scorer throughout his career, on top of having a mediocre season for his caliber.
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Jakub Voracek, now Voracek had a down year last season. He seems to be on the rise this season already on pace to surpass his point total for last year, but again the Flyer can get a decent amount in return for this 27-year-old forward.
Whether it be moving Giroux and keeping Voracek or moving Voracek and keeping Giroux. It has to be a thought for the Flyers, with 11 contracts to be resigned or not the Flyers have some wiggle room in their cap for next season.