The way back, a Derek Giroux story.
The year is September 2011, the season is fall, a young Derek Giroux is a highly touted prospect for the 2012 NHL entry draft. Projected to go in the Top 5 that year he drew comparisons to current Black Hawks captain Jonathan Toews. Giroux himself admits now that the comparisons were pre-mature and unrealistic but he didn’t always think that way.
A young brazen Giroux lashed out upon hearing these comparisons, calling himself the next Datsyuk and saying that it was insulting to be compared to Toews who quote “Sucked”.
“I was a different person back then, very angry and I’d lash out at anyone who I felt was disrespecting me” says an older tamer Giroux.
Yes for the past few years Derek Giroux hasn’t been a forgotten name, comtemplating past mistakes and what could have been.
At 17 Giroux was a star forward with the Omaha Lancers, or a star to be. He was expected to challenge for the scoring title and potentially deliver a USHL Clark Cup Championship. Coming his second Midget AAA season where’s he scored 44 goals and added 72 assists for the GTHL’a Major Marlins Giroux was on top of the earth but the red flags were already present. His minor midget team in Quebec, the St.Eustache Vikings had kicked him off at the end of his rookie year where he had scored 35 goals and added 27 assists. Impressive numbers for a rookie, he would have been the first overall pick in the 2010 QMJHL rookie draft had he gone that route according to one former GM.
“He was the complete package, skating, hockey sense, skilled and creative, he has everything. But boy oh boy he probably had the worst attitude in a player I’ve ever seen, lots of baggage.” -Unamed Former QMJHL GM.
Yes the red flags were plenty, but praise was high and his skills were in demand, Harvard awaited the young man as did a high draft place and the NHL. 6 years later that all seems like a life time ago, in fact it makes you wonder how it all went so wrong.
“ I f***ed around a lot that’s year and I didn’t a lot things that’s I regret, it costed me dearly” says Giroux.
His first game in the USHL was a master class where he recorded 5 points, crazily enough he’d only score 3 more points in his 17 game USHL career with 2 of them coming in the 3 games that followed. The problems would start the night of his first game.
“I just stopped working hard and I starting causing trouble or getting into it” he recalls.
The night of his first game, he went to a party that would change his life:
“ They had all kind of drugs and alcohol there, I tried everything, I went to bed at 5am wasted and high out this world, missed practice the next morning. Coach came to my house found me passed on in my bed, he woke me up actually.”
Giroux would spend the next game on the 4th line, getting an assist. The problems would escalate:
“ I thought to myself I’m too good for this league I don’t need to work and I don’t need ice, I skipped practice the next morning, partied again after that and found myself suspended.”
This pattern would repeat itself a few times, until November when Giroux was suspended indenfinitely. His on ice performances had suffered as well as his grades, by December he had failed 3 classes, he had never failed 1 before. Having finally had enough Havard Coach Paul Marchant called him to let him know that his scholarship had been rescinded, it was over.
“At that point I was firmly entrenched in this world of partying, and then self loathing, depression and anger. I wasn’t playing hockey anymore, I hated my coach and I was surrounded with bad people, and then like that Havard was gone. Didn’t take long till I blew my top.”
On December 10th Giroux was expelled from his high school for an altercation with a teacher who was defending a female student who had made disparaging comments towards Giroux on Twitter, and having been suspseneded since Novemeber for showing up to practice intoxiatcated his team had finally had enough and released him. His time with the Lancers was done, he managed to put up 8 points in 17 games, 3 goals and 5 assists. Not good at all for a one top potential top 5 pick.
“I thought that they were all wrong and I was angry and eager to prove them wrong, but at that point a lot of damage had been done, I’d gone from top 5 to 5th round by December and even then people were saying that maybe I wouldn’t get drafted, there was only 1 Q team who wanted me to play and it was Val’Dor I went up there and I was late for the first practice, coach sent me back home the same day.”
He had driven 14 hours for nothing, he was out of options and became angrier and more depressed. Giroux would finish the 2011-2012 season in Jr AAA with the Vaudreuil Mustangs, mustering up 14 points in 27 games, average numbers at first glance but below par in what is known as a high scoring league. His attitude problems and partying addiction followed him, at the end of the season he had been told he would not be brought back, and he had gained 20 pounds. At this point he wasn’t on any NHL teams radar and was no longer considered a potential draft pick.
“The draft came around, I watched my buddies get drafted and I kinda decided then I was done with hockey, it was over for me and the way back just didn’t exist in my mind. I was angry and depressed and didn’t like who I was so I quit actually.”
Giroux sat out the entire 2012-2013 season, preffering to party with his friends, the few he had left. It wasnt until August 2013, a few days before his 19th birthday where he finally reached rock bottom.
“I was at a bar, I got into a fight with an old man and I lost the fight and got arrested. My parents had had enough of me, it was either get help or get kicked out. I said no at first and my dad said to me, your buddies are making millions and you’re fighting old men, is this what you want for your life ? I broke down and started crying and told him I didn’t know how to fix it, how to fix anything.”
In August 2013, Giroux would start seeing a therapist and eventually joined AA meeetings. By this time he had been out of hockey for a year and gained 40 pounds, he was a shell of his former self. He hated hockey, or so he thought he did...
“In my first session with my therapist she asked me when was the last time I was happy and I told her I was when I was 14, my Bantam AAA finals I had a hat trick and we won the provincials. She suggested I get back into hockey just for fun.”
A few weeks later Giroux would hit the ice would a rec Jr.b team in his local town, a very low level of hockey. He was supposed to play the season there but he impressed the Jr.A coach who took him despite his weight.
He said: “you’re a big boy, didn’t think you could still play but I’m taking you. If you fool around you’re done.”
Giroux didn’t fool around, he started enjoying hockey again, he started going to the gym around and he started to feel better again. By October 2013 he was dominating with his local rec team and was starting to lose weight, additionally he had been called up to finish the season with his local Jr.Rep team as a player had quit.
“Honestly I started having fun again and things started turning around, I went back to school too. Took some courses at my local adult Ed center.”
In early December 2013 Giroux’s phone rang, it was Carl Lawson, Canada East’s coach for the WJA challenge and coach of the St.Leonard Artic, he needed a player for the weekend and possibly longer as his captain had left for the Q, having coached Giroux he called him to see if he wasn’t interested in trying to play in the league.
“I was still on the bigger side but I said why not, he said it was a two game thing and that they were in a jam, he had coached against and believed everyone deserved a second chance.”
Giroux would score 3 points in those 2 games and would be called up again the next weekend grabbing a pair of assists in 2 games. Giving him 5 points in 4 games. The Arctic would invite him to practice for the next week, Giroux showed up early and stayed late all week. He’d play in the their last game before the break nothing a hat trick.
“He came in and worked hard, he had a good attitude I honestly didn’t recognize the person. It helped that he had 8 points in 5 games but I said hey I’ve seen enough and I asked him to finish the season with us.” -Carl Lawson
Giroux would finish the season with the Arctic in the Quebec Jr AAA league, he scored 37 points in 28 games, respectable numbers in the league.
He would again be passed over in the 2014 NHL and at the age of 19 turning 20 in August he knew his NHL dreams were behind him. He figured he’d played his overage season in the QJAAAHL and then try to play CIS hockey. But fate would have other plans...
“Carl had actually set up a tryout for me with Blainville in the Q, I had lost 20 pounds and had a solid season and with Carl vouching for me they were willing to give me a shot. I was planning on showing up to the camp.”
But that all changed in Mid July 2014 when he got a call from an old coach:
“Jeff Bridges my old peewee coach called me, every year he puts together a team for the chowder cup in Boston it’s a prep/college hockey showcase and he was short a player. He knew I’d started playing again and asked me if I’d go. I went.”
Giroux would score 15 points in 6 games, and would attract the eye of a few college coaches, however most were scared off by his grades and previous history.
“Honestly only 2 coaches followed through on their interest after hearing about my past and confirming who I was. Denver’s Jim Yukon and North Dakota’s Dave Hakstol. Dave invited me to camp first so I said yes, I wasn’t thinking about playing pro I just wanted to go to a good college and that was my way in. I wasn’t even garunteed a spot I had to tryout.”
And so he tried, he would go on to make the team shortly after his 20th birthday. In his rookie season Giroux had 12 points in 44 games as the Fighting Irish lost in the conference finals.
Giroux would spend 3 more years with the Fighting Irish, including his senior season last year, which was the best one of his career.
“It was a great year, I enjoyed my time at No-Dak, I’m just thankful that I was given a shot at redemption.”
In his final year Giroux scored 27 goals and added 41 assists for 68 points in just 40 games, he won the Hobey Baker award as the top collegiate player in the NCAA and he led to the Fighting Irish to their first national title in 8 years. At the end of the season Giroux recieved multiple offers from NHL teams but he ultimately signed with the New York Rangers.
“It’s been a crazy year, I’m really excited that I’ll get a chance to live my childhood dream of playing in the NHL, I think it’s a good fit for me and I’m just really grateful right now to everyone who helped me along the way. I may not make it out of the gate but I know I’ll get there”
Time will tell if Giroux will make if, but you can’t deny he’s come a long way and is willing to put in the work. With a young squad that is rebuilding and undergoing personnel changes there’s room for the 5:10 center from Montreal, Quebec to make the team. We’ll know more as training camp rolls around.
For the Athletic I’m Walter White.
Next Up:
Training camp, a new and an old friend
