Claude Giroux Reportedly Prefers The Avalanche, But Can They Afford Him?

Claude Giroux appears willing to waive his no-movement clause for a handful of clubs, with Colorado looking like the top choice. Can the team make it work?

Claude Giroux appears willing to waive his no-movement clause for a handful of clubs. Colorado Hockey Now's Adrian Dater reported Monday the 34-year-old Philadelphia Flyers captain informed general manager Chuck Fletcher he'd like to join the Colorado Avalanche but would also accept a trade to the St. Louis Blues or Minnesota Wild.

Whatever the Flyers set as an asking price for Giroux could be expensive, though the return might not be as big a deal breaker as making the cap dollars fit. Cap Friendly shows the Avalanche with just $1.691 million in projected salary-cap space by the March 21 trade deadline. That probably won't be enough to comfortably absorb the remainder of Giroux's $8.275-million cap hit, which sat at $2.979 million as of Feb. 16.

Avalanche GM Joe Sakic will require some creativity to make this deal happen. He could ship out a depth player such as Nicolas Aube-Kubel ($1.075 million) or Tyson Jost ($2 million) in the return to the Flyers.

Sakic could attempt to convince Fletcher to retain up to half of Giroux's cap hit. He could also try to get a non-playoff with plentiful cap space, such as the Arizona Coyotes, New Jersey Devils or Seattle Kraken, to act as a third-party broker to spread the cap hit around.

The Blues have even less cap space than the Avs so Giroux probably won't land in St. Louis without them moving out some salary in the deal. The Wild, meanwhile, are the best fit cap-wise with $9.8 million in deadline cap room but it remains to be seen if GM Bill Guerin will get into the bidding for the long-time Flyers star.