Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE
Well the Philadelphia Flyers now have seven players in Europe due to the lockout. Claude Giroux and teammate Daniel Briere are the next two Flyers heading to Germany. The news was broken via Twitter by Pierre LeBrun.
Briere and Giroux decided to work out a deal so that they would be able to play as teammates during the lockout by playing for Eisbaren Berlin, a team in Germany’s top league, Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).
Eisbaren Berlin have won the DEL championship more times than any other team. They have recently captured titles in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012.
Briere and Giroux will be playing for coach Don Jackson. Jackson is a former NHL defenseman. He played 315 games in the NHL and was the 39th overall draft pick in the 1976 draft by the Minnesota North Stars.
The good part about Giroux and Briere playing overseas is that they will still be playing against quality competition. Though the competition is not always NHL-caliber, Giroux and Briere will definitely get a lot of reps in and will be ready for an NHL season if and when the CBA gets resolved.
Now that news of all October NHL games up to the 24th have been cancelled, look for more NHL players to begin looking for work overseas. The Flyers now have seven players in Europe. What GM Paul Holmgren and head coach Peter Laviolette need to worry about is that six of the seven players in Europe are marguee names in their teams’ lineup. The Philadelphia organization needs to be a bit cautious of the possibility of an injury or two especially knowing that more players could soon leave to play in Europe.
David A. Cattai is the Featured Writer for the Philadelphia Flyers with Rant Sports & Featured Beat Writer covering the Philadelphia Phillies for Buzz On Broad.
Follow me on Twitter @DCattaiSports for all Flyers, Phillies, NHL, and MLB sports updates.
