Entering the final year of his contract, Giroux says he has not had any talks yet about an extension with his hometown Ottawa Senators.
Entering the final year of his contract, Giroux says he has not had any talks yet about an extension with his hometown Ottawa Senators.
Back in April, the media asked former Senator defenceman Jakob Chychrun whether he could see himself in Ottawa beyond next season. His answer was non-committal.
"I honestly have not thought about that," Chychrun said. "I know I have one more year left, and like I said, there haven't even been talks of an extension or anything. So I haven't really gotten my head wrapped around that idea."
The Senators couldn't get their head around it either, trading him on July 1st to the Washington Capitals for Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick.
So when popular Senators winger Claude Giroux was asked Wednesday about a possible extension and gave the same answer Chychrun did, it raised a few eyebrows.
"I haven't really thought about it, to be honest with you," Giroux told the Coming in Hot Podcast on Wednesday. "My main focus right now is having a good year with the Sens and taking that next step. I mean, those are just details that I don't need right now. I don't need those distractions, and everything's going to take care of itself."
When host Brent Wallace pressed Giroux about whether it would start to be a distraction if things dragged out to the trade deadline next season, Giroux got in a playful jab.
"I don't think so. I mean, you're being a distraction by talking about it right now," Giroux said with a laugh. "I'm just kidding. No, it's something that Steve Staios and I didn't really talk about. I haven't talked to my agent about it or even my wife. It's not something on my mind right now."
The parallels between Chychrun and Giroux are interesting. Both of them arrived here excited to play in the city where they have a lot of family and where they spent so much time growing up.
But it's safe to say that things didn't go as expected. Both players will become UFAs next summer, and they responded to their contractual status in exactly the same fashion.
Chychrun was traded to help rebalance the blue line. So, what are the Senators' plans for Giroux? While their responses were eerily similar, they're obviously not harbingers. Everything will depend on how much Giroux has left in the tank this season and what he's looking for.
And signing an extension, as always, is a two-way street. It might not be up to the Senators. If the Sens struggle out of the gate again, Giroux might prefer greener pastures for his walk into the NHL sunset.
When it comes to extensions, as we saw with Chychrun, when you say you're not even thinking about it, your fans immediately start thinking about it.