Is Claude Giroux a top 10 winger in the league?

[wetcoast]

The first thought I had in my head was “oh no, it’s the same mistake as the hockey guy “

The hockey guy is still getting messages about Giroux being a winger that he even jokes now about him being a defensemen.

Lol

THG,s defense was well he still took tons of faceoffs and his most of his career he was center before this.

To answer, I think he’s playing like one but would I rank him one of the top ten, probably not but close.

He was absolutely elite a few years back then had a couple of quiet years before bouncing back.

Can't really add much more to this.

Dead on post.

 

[Appleyard]

I mean... since he moved to LW:

138pts (2nd amongst Wingers to Kucherov)
1.27 PPG (2nd amongst Wingers to Kucherov)
2.92 P/60 5v5 (2nd amongst Wingers to Kucherov)

Yet:

ZSR:
Giroux: 46.32%
Kucherov: 60.93%

TOI QoC:
Giroux: 29.81
Kucherov: 29.52

Corsi QoC:
Giroux: 50.03
Kucherov: 29.81

And Giroux also has better Corsi, Corsi Rel, GF, GF Rel, ExGF and ExGF rel than Kucherov.


Ofc, Kucherov is not his only competition... but I mean, there is an argument to be made that since he moved to wing he has been the most impactful winger in the league.

 

[mja]

Well, he played center yesterday all game and was the most dominant player on the ice. It'll be interesting to see if Hak decides to keep him at center for the time being.

 

[Tkachuky]

Hall
Ovi
Kucherov
Pasta
Rantanen
Marner
Marchand
Kane
Wheeler
Giroux

I have him in the top 10 (no order to the above)

HM: Panarin, Benn, Kessel

Does Gaudreau not crack within those 13 guys?

 

[Sasso09]

Nope. But I'm sure we can talk more about it next month when the thread gets bumped after a 3/4 point game

Next month, last year, 5 years, 10 years or any combination of years in between.

Giroux hasn't dropped out of the top 10 in scoring for all players in that time frame let alone wingers or centers while being better defensively than most if not all that are in the top 10. There's no cherry picking needed

 

[AuraSphere]

Does Gaudreau not crack within those 13 guys?

Tbh just simply forgot about him, he's in the 9-11 range for sure

 

[Tkachuky]

Tbh just simply forgot about him, he's in the 9-11 range for sure

It’s ok. A lot of people do!

 

[mja]

BTW, he's a full-time center again.

 

[Connor McConnor]

Giroux is and has been one of the most underrated hockey players in the NHL. It's actually crazy how people just ignore his constant production for no apparent reason.

 

[mja]

Giroux is and has been one of the most underrated hockey players in the NHL. It's actually crazy how people just ignore his constant production for no apparent reason.

It's ridiculous. You'd think he'd be the kind of story that people would latch onto - unheralded, not a top pick, not some perfect physical specimen, doesn't have blazing speed, etc., he just gets by on his smarts and intensity. But nope.

If you ever want a really great laugh, go search out some of the trade threads from 2017 where people are offering up utter garbage for him.

Also, he's played full-time center for the last 7 games (2 of them with Couturier out injured, i.e., really no other center to draw the other team's attention). In those 7 games he's scored 9 points.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

top 10 winger? id say so. anywhere from like 4 to 9 ish

 

[Tripod]

Surprising fact:

Giroux is tied for 9th in ES scoring and everyone above him, has more PP points than he does.


3rd in ES points the last 1.5 years
10th in ES points this decade

"PP specialist"

 

[Regal]

Surprising fact:

Giroux is tied for 9th in ES scoring and everyone above him, has more PP points than he does.


3rd in ES points the last 1.5 years
10th in ES points this decade

"PP specialist"

He was called a PP specialist because his even strength production was bad for 3 years prior to last year. I keep seeing Philly fans making these types of posts countering "bad takes", but the data is from a different timeline than those opinions. Giroux is great, but he didn't play like an elite player for a couple years, and his status took a hit because of it. Part of that was his hip injury, but it's hard to know how well someone will bounce back from that. I will say though that Giroux has probably been given less benefit of the doubt than most star players

 

[Tripod]

He was called a PP specialist because his even strength production was bad for 3 years prior to last year. I keep seeing Philly fans making these types of posts countering "bad takes", but the data is from a different timeline than those opinions. Giroux is great, but he didn't play like an elite player for a couple years, and his status took a hit because of it. Part of that was his hip injury, but it's hard to know how well someone will bounce back from that. I will say though that Giroux has probably been given less benefit of the doubt than most star players

And as we said....1 year he was playing hurt, the other recovering from the offseason surgery. But that info fell on deaf ears.

And 100% agreed that he was given less benefit of the doubt.....but that has been Giroux thru his whole career.

Even now with 3 top 3 point finishes, 3 top 4 Hart finishes and 2nd in points this decade, he gets underrated. Look at the voting above as proof.

 

[Regal]

And as we said....1 year he was playing hurt, the other recovering from the offseason surgery. But that info fell on deaf ears.

And 100% agreed that he was given less benefit of the doubt.....but that has been Giroux thru his whole career.

Even now with 3 top 3 point finishes, 3 top 4 Hart finishes and 2nd in points this decade, he gets underrated. Look at the voting above as proof.

But I don't think it was so much falling on deaf ears as people questioning if he'd ever get back to previous levels. It's always concerning when a player approaching 30 who was never the best skater has that type of injury. But I think a year and a half of elite play again should have put those concerns to rest, and maybe you're right that the poll shows him to still be underrated.

 

[GlitchMarner]

And as we said....1 year he was playing hurt, the other recovering from the offseason surgery. But that info fell on deaf ears.

And 100% agreed that he was given less benefit of the doubt.....but that has been Giroux thru his whole career.

Even now with 3 top 3 point finishes, 3 top 4 Hart finishes and 2nd in points this decade, he gets underrated. Look at the voting above as proof.

Giroux has more top five Hart voting finishes than Toews, Tavares, Stamkos, Bergeron, Backstrom, Getzlaf and even Sakic and Yzerman.

 

[Tripod]

Giroux has more top five Hart voting finishes than Toews, Tavares, Stamkos, Bergeron, Backstrom, Getzlaf and even Sakic and Yzerman.

Not bad for a guy with 1 good year....

Not sure where to find it, but the other day during one of the games it showed that Giroux is 2nd to McDavid this year on being part of the % of team goals....over 40%. Wonder where to find that stat.

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Top 2 wings are OV and Kucherov. After them, in no order, guys who could be argued ahead of Giroux:

Marchand
Hall
Gaudreau
Panarin
Kane
Wheeler
Rantanen
Stone
Marner

Personally I have him comfortably in the top 10, probably top 5. But I can see why some people wouldn't.

 

[mja]

Ridiculous goal last night:


Has now played 10 straight games at center, scoring 3 goals and 9 assists for 12 points, so his production is essentially despite the switch back to the more demanding position. Incidentally, the Flyers are 3-1-1 since the coaching change.

 

[StoneHands]

Top 2 wings are OV and Kucherov. After them, in no order, guys who could be argued ahead of Giroux:

Marchand
Hall
Gaudreau
Panarin
Kane
Wheeler
Rantanen
Stone
Marner

Personally I have him comfortably in the top 10, probably top 5. But I can see why some people wouldn't.

I know you said you have him in your top 5 but I'm just curious what argument some of these guys would have to be ahead of Giroux.

An argument can be made for Marchand, Kane, Wheeler, and Rantanen but I'm not sure what the argument would be for the rest without people contradicting their own point and using past success for some guys and ignore today and using this season only for others and ignoring the past.

Hall- He had a career year last year and won the Hart but Giroux was arguably just as good and he's outproducing him this year and has done so every year going back to the lockout.

Panarin- I have no idea what the argument could be here.

Stone- I have no idea what the argument would be for this one either.

Gaudreau and Marner- If we're basing it off of the first third of this season, I guess there's an argument but a 35 game sample where they have marginally better numbers shouldn't be a big factor.

Kucherov is the only winger with more more points than Giroux going back to the beginning of last season. Giroux is doing this on a team that isn't very good at scoring goals. They're 19th this season and they were 13th last year. Most of the top scoring wingers and players in general are on high end offensive teams. Giroux just keeps plugging away with little help.