When former captain Chris Pronger went down with a serious head injury in December of 2011, the Philadelphia Flyers found themselves at a crossroads as an organization.
They played the rest of the season with a few rotating alternate captains, one of whom was young center Claude Giroux, in the midst of a breakout season.
Going into that summer, as the severity of Pronger's injury became evident, the Flyers realized they needed to name a new captain and move forward without their embattled leader.
Giroux, a former first-round pick and now the consensus best player on the team, was considered the front-runner for the job.
But veterans like Danny Briere (a former captain himself) and Kimmo Timonen would also have been very logical choices, and some felt that they deserved the honor.
Giroux was in fact named the captain at the ripe age of 24, and I personally began to have a few doubts.
It seemed like the Flyers could be making the exact same mistake that they made with previous captain Mike Richards: giving their top upcoming star too much responsibility too soon.
We ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Garrett Baker
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