Lappy on Former Flyers Turned Kings June 12, 2012, 6:51 PM ET [60 Comments] Tim Panaccio

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On a day when Ian Laperriere spoke to the Philly media about his retirement, he earned major props, in my mind, for not beating around the bush on Claude Giroux.



Lappy said what we all know is very true: that in order for Giroux to grow as a top line, first rate NHL star, he had to step out of the vast shadows cast from Mike Richards and Jeff Carter.



He had to get their ice time and the only way to achieve that was to move Richards and Carter in deals that benefited everybody.



Last June, everyone in Philly liked what the Flyers got in the two trades and what the future would bring.



Now a year later, after a disappointing playoff run, and the LA Kings winning the Stanley Cup, fans are down on BOTH deals.



The Flyers would NOT have won the Cup with Carter and Richards still here this year. They would not have had the $$ to sign Ilya Bryzgalov, either.



Carter and Richards aided a club that was going nowhere to suddenly come alive and then find its pulse behind yet another story of a goalie who got hot at the right time in Jonathan Quick.



Same thing happened with Peter Laviolette's Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. Both from the goalie and team perspective. And the pickup of key players like Doug Weight and Mark Recchi. Carter was the Doug Weight this year.



And let's not forget that Darryl Sutter had a lot of say in this Cup from the way he handled this team which was very different from when he had an older Calgary club in the Final against Tampa Bay.



Here's what Lappy had to say about Carter, Richards and Giroux today:



Transcript courtesy of the Flyers:



Q: What was your feeling last night watching the Kings win the Stanley Cup? Jealousy, happy for them, little bit of both?



“Little bit of both, but it’s not because of them. Every year it’s like that. I’ve never won it, and it’s not something that just because it was the Kings, it’s every year – the year before when Boston won it I felt the same way, and Chicago it was way worse because I was on the other end of it. It’s not jealousy, it’s more like you wish it was you. It’s great that those guys won it, Williams and Gagne and all those guys. I’m happy for the Kings actually. I spent most of my career over there, nine years, and the fans have been waiting a long time to get their Cup, and they have it. I’m very happy for the fans and the organization out there. Carts and Richie, it’s a great fit for them. Here, they were the face of the franchise, but there, they’re not, and I think it’s a better fit for those two guys. They’re not the top players, they’re second-line there. They have Kopitar and Brown in front of them. I said that when we made that trade last summer, I think it’s a perfect deal for both teams, and it turned out to be great for them. They have a great role there, and same with Carter, went to Columbus, he was a tough player there. Didn’t work for him there, and they send him to LA as secondary scoring, and it worked perfect for them.”



Q: On evaluating the trade and the sentiment that some fans don’t like it now



“Are they the same Flyers fans who looked this season and saw Couturier, Simmonds, Schenn, Voracek, all those great players coming up? The future’s brighter, people. They have to understand that Giroux became Giroux this year because the other two guys left. With those two guys in front of him – you just can’t say OK Mike and Carts, you’re going to be secondary scoring and we’re going to leave the team to Giroux. That’s not the way it works. I don’t think G would be who he is today. Maybe I’m wrong, that’s my opinion. But I don’t think he’s the all-star that G became this year if he doesn’t have the ice time. This year he played a lot more than everybody else and that’s what it takes when you want a guy to become a superstar on your team. If the other two guys had been here, I don’t think it would have happened.”