Claude Giroux wants to play next season, here’s why the Senators should bring him back

Ottawa Senator Claude Giroux talking to the media at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa Monday. Photo by TONY CALDWELL /POSTMEDIA

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Claude Giroux has unfinished business.

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The Ottawa Senators veteran winger pondered retirement after the club was eliminated from the National Hockey League playoffs in four straight games by the Carolina Hurricanes last month, but it was confirmed on Tuesday that he’d like to play one more season.

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The 38-year-old Giroux, who has spent the past four years with the Senators after signing as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2022, took time to ponder his future after the club’s disappointing playoff performance, but he’s hungry for more.

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“He wants to play for sure,” Pat Brisson, Giroux’s Los Angeles-based agent of CAA Hockey, told the Ottawa Citizen in a text message.

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TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was first to report that Giroux has a desire to return.

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“The guys in that locker room, I love spending time with those guys,” Giroux said on locker cleanout day. “They make it fun coming to the rink. They definitely keep me young and, being around them, I feel really lucky.”

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An unrestricted free agent, Giroux told reporters on exit day that his priority was to sign with the Senators if he did play again — and there is no reason to believe the club doesn’t want him back.

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There haven’t been any discussions between Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, and Brisson but it was only determined recently that Giroux, in fact, wants to play.

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This is one of those contracts that shouldn’t take long to get done, but it does add another priority to Staios’ off-season “to-do” list.

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“(Giroux’s) a special player and a special person,” Staios said last month. “Talk about experience and going through some hard lessons and having success as a player. He brings that to our group. He brings that leadership. I think he played even better this year than he did last year, so it shows his commitment to his craft, as well.”

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Giroux, who will turn 39 in January, has played 1,345 NHL games in his career with the Philadelphia Flyers, Florida Panthers and Ottawa. He has amassed 379 goals and 1,165 points in that stretch, which has him ranked at No. 60 all-time in league scoring.

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Last year, 10 teams were interested in Giroux, but he opted to stay with the Senators. He grew up in Orleans, lives a slapshot away from the Canadian Tire Centre and trains here in the off-season. He is, without question, the best free-agent signing this club has ever had.

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League executives told The Citizen last year that the Montreal Canadiens, an arch-rival of the Senators, made a hard push to sign Giroux.

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Giroux didn’t have any intention of going anywhere else. He came back to Ottawa to help the Senators make the next step. His wife, Ryanne, is comfortable here with the couple’s three children and there is an opportunity to help the club make another step.

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How much could Giroux earn?

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It would make sense for Giroux to sign a deal similar to the one he played with last year. He agreed to a one-year contract with a base salary of $2 million US, offering up to $2.75 million in incentives for games played and team success in the post-season.