There are only nine days to go before veteran Ottawa Senators winger Claude Giroux hits unrestricted free agency — but if anyone knows how to deliver in the final moments, it’s Giroux.

So what’s the delay? If both sides are still open to a deal, why isn’t it done? According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the sticking point appears to be a dispute over bonus structure.

Friedman: "Jonathan Toews’ bonus-laden deal could be the template for Jamie Benn and Claude Giroux. In Joe Pavelski’s final two seasons, he signed for $6 million and then $5.5 million, including bonuses. He was older than Benn, but also scored more (although Benn had 49 points this year). I’ve heard Giroux and Ottawa were battling over bonus structure. Pat Brisson, Giroux’s agent, also represents Toews, so you can see what a finished product might look like. Plenty of time to sort this out. This is grind season."

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Giroux and Toews may be the same age with the same agent, but they're two very different situations. Toews missed two years of hockey due to illness, so it remains to be seen how many games he'll be able to play. That's why the Jets loaded up his contract with games-played bonuses. If Toews only plays 10 games and his problems resurface, the Jets don't want to be stuck with paying a full year's salary.

No one should have those concerns about Giroux. Despite his age, he's been an ironman in Ottawa, missing only one game in three years – a nod to how hard he trains in the summer.

Giroux's numbers faded over the past two years from 79 to 64, then down to 50 points last season, but he's still productive and healthy enough to expect a fully guaranteed, market value contract. So if Friedman is right, and they're coming at him with a bonus structure plan instead, you could see how that might be unpopular on Giroux's side.

With unrestricted free agency looming, regardless of the Senators' cap situation or what their side envisions for Giroux, he has every right to expect a deal in the neighborhood of $4.5 to $5 million per season. He will get that somewhere, and he'd prefer it to be here.

GM Steve Staios was asked a couple of weeks ago at the Sens alumni golf tournament whether there was anything to report in talks with Giroux.

"Not really. I mean, we continue to talk," Staios said. "I think the dialogue is ongoing. And like I said, just like with (the contract talks with Tyler Kleven), you speak to the representative, you want to find what's fair. And it takes two sides."

Giroux's side of the story isn't complicated, and it hasn't changed in three years. He's mainly keen to be here for family reasons. It's home for both he and his wife, Ryanne, and their three young boys. And the Senators know that, which is a big advantage for them in negotiations as they angle to get the deal they want.

But Giroux still wants fair market value, and whether he's been presented with a bonus-laden deal or something else, he obviously doesn't like what's on the table right now. Like all pending UFAs, his only leverage to get a better deal is to threaten to leave and sign somewhere else.

But what if the Senators don't believe that threat? Maybe, like a game of poker, they think he's bluffing, and so they're sticking to their guns on what they believe is fair.

If Giroux walks, it won't be easy for the Sens to find his replacement out there. If they go free agent shopping, luring in a decent replacement while outbidding other teams might end up being more expensive than what Giroux wants.

I also don't see an obvious internal replacement. I haven't seen anything from wingers David Perron or Fabian Zetterlund that indicates they're as good as Giroux or belong in the top six ahead of him.

The Senators have about $10 million in cap space to work with, and as long as they aren't grinding and offering something insulting that Giroux would have no choice but to walk away from, it still feels like there's a deal to be done that could work for both sides.

Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa
(Banner image credit: Russell LaBounty, Imagn Images)

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