Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk says he leaned heavily last season on veteran teammate Claude Giroux.

When Claude Giroux signed with the Ottawa Senators last summer, there was plenty of excitement. But there were also plenty of questions about how he'd fit in. 

Not only was Giroux now deep into middle age as a player, he was the long-time captain of the Philadelphia Flyers and accustomed to being his team's leader. The Senators, meanwhile, were a very young team with established young leadership.

To put the age gap in perspective, the year Giroux was named captain of the Philadelphia Flyers, Brady Tkachuk had just turned 13 years old.

Make no mistake, with a career-high 35 goals and 79 points, Giroux's on-ice production last season would have fit in perfectly with any club. But this week on the Dropping the Gloves Podcast, Tkachuk says the off-ice fit has been every bit as good.

"I leaned on him heavily," Tkachuk said. "I felt like we'd been playing together for the last ten years. Like, he's one of my best friends instantly. I could talk to him about anything. I relied on him so much. And he means a lot to me.

"Even though we've only played together for a year, he really is important to me (along with) his opinion and his thought process. Not only did he help me a lot but he helped the whole team. He's an important person to everyone in that locker room."

Although Giroux has been a winger for several seasons now, he's also one of the top faceoff men of his generation. So you couldn't imagine a better mentor for Tim Stutzle, Josh Norris, Shane Pinto and Mark Kastelic, who are all in that 21-24 age group, all still developing as NHL players. 

Yes, that includes Stutzle, who erupted with 90 points last season, but still has plenty of room to grow at the faceoff circle (41.6% success rate last season) and in defensive zone coverage.

While it was rare to see the historically frugal Senators even ask about a top unrestricted free agent last summer, the Sens knew they had the hometown advantage with Giroux, which was exactly the cheat code they needed.

Even though it's only been a year, for what he's delivered on and off the ice – and how he's fit in so seamlessly – it's not remotely a stretch to label Giroux as the finest free agent signing in Ottawa Senators' history.