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Veteran forward Claude Giroux is returning to the Ottawa Senators for a fifth season on a one-year deal.
The 38-year-old from Hearst in northern Ontario has re-signed for his 20th NHL season: parts of 15 with the Philadelphia Flyers, a playoff run with Florida in 2022 and the last four seasons with Ottawa.
“I chose to come back because I want to be here. I’m excited to be an Ottawa Senator,” Giroux said in a statement from the Senators. “Being around those guys for four years, we got really close. This team feels like a family. I just care for those players.”
Giroux has missed just one regular-season game in those four Senators seasons, scoring 85 goals and setting up 157 goals for teammates.
He took and won the most faceoffs on the team last season, picking up three votes for the league’s best defensive forward. More advanced stats that factor in shot attempts show he still helps create more chances than he gives up.
Giroux, who came up with the Cumberland Grads and Gatineau Olympiques, is nearing 400 career goals, 1,200 career points and 1,400 career games.
Hitting that point total would put him inside the top 100 point-getters in NHL history. Only 46 players have played 1,400 NHL games.
Ottawa is working to make the playoffs for the third straight season and go deeper than its previous two first-round losses.
The offseason headline so far is the trade request of captain Brady Tkachuk, his trade to Florida and the players the Sens have picked up in return, including young scoring forward William Eklund.
Senators Hall of Famer Daniel Alfredsson is also moving to Toronto to be an associate coach for the Maple Leafs.
