Flyers facing major complications in Claude Giroux trade.

For several weeks now we have been hearing talk of a potential trade involving veteran Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux. With Giroux and the Flyers well out of playoff contention it has seemed almost inevitable that Giroux will end up traded prior to the National Hockey League's trade deadline on Monday, and while I still believe that to be the case it would appear there may be some major complications in this deal for the Flyers.

Equipped with a full no movement clause, Giroux has full control of his fate leading up to the deadline and there is a growing sense that the Florida Panthers are Giroux's prefered destination of choice. That, it would seem, is now the source of a serious headache for the Flyers and on the most recent episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed just why that is the case.

"Claude Giroux has told the Flyers he wants to go Florida," said Friedman on the podcast. "They know he wants to go to Florida and I think ultimately they will do the right thing by him and send him to Florida, that's my prediction. I could be wrong but that's my predication."

It would appear as though the Florida Panthers are fully aware of the predicament that this has put the Flyers in, and as a result have been entirely unwilling to make the Flyers a serious offer for a player that they know no other team may even have a chance of trading for.

"The thing is I think they like Colorado's offer better than the Panther's offer," revealed Friedman. "I think the Panthers are sitting here saying, 'we know we're kind of in the driver's seat here so why should we pay too much of a price?' I think Philly understands that to some degree but they're also like 'we can't let you grind us that badly.'"

It sounds like this is a situation that could quickly turn ugly for the Flyers if they fail to secure any kind of significant return for a star player that has played 1000 games for their organization over the course of his NHL career. Friedman added that he believes the Flyers fan base could be left unhappy as a result of what they get in return for Giroux when this is all said and done.

"At the end of the day I think it might not be what the Flyers' fans hope to see, because I think the Flyers will send him to Florida," said Friedman. "But I do think the Flyers feel the Panthers have been too... tight fisted on the offers they want to make and I think Philly wants to make them a little bit better."

Friedman isn't alone when it comes to this line of thinking on a potential Giroux trade with the Panthers. The Fourth Period's Anthony DiMarco cited one source that suggested the trade would be an "embarrassing" deal for the Flyers if they were to make the trade based on the current offers from the Panthers.

There's still time to make things work, but this is one that sounds like it could turn ugly for the Flyers before Monday's NHL trade deadline.