The scouts, of course, changed their opinion of the 5-foot-11, 172-pound Giroux, whose relentless style, creativity, and all-around talent have helped him become one of the league's most respected players.
Raymond Giroux said his son, now 24, was never obsessed with being a high draft pick.
"He wasn't thinking really about going higher and higher," he said. "He just loved the sport and continued to play and to work hard. It was fun for him to do."
The All-Star Game will be extra special for the entire Giroux family. It will be in Ottawa, near where Claude and his family moved when the future star was 14. His family still lives about 20 miles from Scotiabank Place. Hence, Giroux will have a slew of supporters at Sunday's 4 p.m. game.
"I went to high school there, so I have a lot of friends there, and I think it's going to be a pretty cool weekend," said Giroux, who says he developed a lot of his moves playing street hockey with his buddies in Hearst, Ontario.
The Flyers' Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell also will play in the All-Star Game, and the teams will be chosen in a draft Thursday night. (Flyers rookies Sean Couturier and Matt Read will take part in the skills competition.)
In last year's All-Star Game, Giroux had a goal and an assist while Flyers teammate Danny Briere, who was then his housemate, had a pair of goals. They played on different sides.
"We had a little competition going," said Giroux, who played on Team Staal, an 11-10 loser to Team Lidstrom. "It was all for fun, but at the end of the day, I kind of wanted more points than him, and he wanted more than me. Everybody's competitive out there."
Giroux said that he would be "a little more comfortable" than last year and that being around the game's best players gives you a chance to see "how they act around the rink and their attitudes. Hopefully, I can learn from that."
As for the game itself, Giroux said it won't matter who is on his line, and joked he would rather play against his usual linemate, Hartnell, and get some hits on him. He acknowledged that Detroit's veteran center, Pavel Datsyuk, "would be pretty good to play with. I grew up watching him a little bit. . . . I like the way he plays the game and I try to play my game a little bit like him."
This is the second year the captains, with some help from their assistants, will draft the team. This year's captains are Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson, assisted by the New York Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist, and Boston's Zdeno Chara, assisted by Toronto's Joffrey Lupul, a former Flyer.
"I think the fans liked it last year. I kind of liked it," said Giroux, who figures to be the first Flyer drafted. "I don't know if there were any guys that didn't like it except for Phil Kessel."
Kessel was drafted last, and was given a car for the "feat."
Giroux is expected to be selected much higher than last year, when he was drafted in the 13th of the 18 rounds - the 25th player out of 36. He doesn't care where he is drafted Thursday, but doesn't want to go last.
"I'll leave the car for Hartnell," he deadpanned.
Note. The Flyers loaned forwards Tom Sestito, Harry Zolnierczyk, and Ben Holmstrom to the Phantoms of the AHL.
Getting Better?
All-star center Claude Giroux recently snapped out of a slump by totaling five assists over two games and moving to
No. 2 in the NHL scoring race with 55 points.
Here are his statistics before and after he suffered a concussion that caused him to miss four games from Dec. 13 to 19:
Pre-concussion
Games: 28
Goals: 16
Assists: 23
Points: 39
Plus/minus: plus-7
Post-concussion
Games: 16
Goals: 2
Assists: 14
Points: 16
Plus/minus: minus-7
Contact staff writer Sam Carchidi at scarchidi@phillynews.com or @BroadStBull on Twitter.
