- Bruce Garrioch says the Maple Leafs put the biggest contract of any team in front of Claude Giroux this summer
- Giroux passed on it and re-signed with Ottawa on a one-year deal worth $2 million plus bonuses
- Read below for why the veteran picked the Senators over Toronto and Edmonton
The Maple Leafs went all out to sign Claude Giroux. It still wasn’t enough.
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen reported that Toronto handed Giroux the largest contract offer of any team once free agency opened. The 38-year-old said no and re-signed with Ottawa anyway.
Garrioch wrote that Toronto “isn’t the type of market that fits the mould for the kind of player that he is.” Giroux went with a room he already knew instead of the biggest paycheck.
The Senators brought him back on a one-year deal with a $2 million base and a stack of games-played and playoff bonuses.
Garrioch broke down the numbers:
Toronto wasn’t alone in the chase. Edmonton made a pitch before dropping out, and the Flyers checked in on their old captain too. Every one of those teams wants to win now, and every one of them saw a veteran who could still help.
Giroux isn’t the player he was in Philadelphia, but he shows up every night. He played all 82 games last season and finished with 14 goals, 35 assists and 49 points.
He has given Toronto plenty of headaches along the way. Watch him clean up a rebound off a Leafs turnover last season:
The Hearst, Ontario native has 1,165 career points and four seasons in Ottawa on his resume, with a fifth now on the way. Toronto pushed hard, and Giroux still chose the room he already had.
