Flyers’ latest experiment moves Claude Giroux to left wing

VOORHEES — For the last couple years, according to the Flyers’ captain and No. 1 center, he’s had some rather unrealistic talks with Sean Couturier about playing together.

Tuesday, on the fourth day of training camp practices, it became reality.

Claude Giroux was a winger for the first time since he broke into the NHL with the Flyers as a full-timer in 2008. He played the left side and his usual partner, Jake Voracek, was on the right wing.

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“It was actually a lot of fun,” Giroux said. “It’s not like I’m against it or I’m not happy with it. If it makes the team better, we have a lot of centermen and I’m up for it for sure.”

It could be just a one-day experiment cooked up by Flyers coach Dave Hakstol.

Or it could stick for a while. Giroux said he “would not be surprised” if he was a winger when the Flyers start their season Oct. 4 in San Jose, but a lot would have to happen before then.

Hakstol said it’s not a matter of connecting the dots with Nolan Patrick, the second-overall pick from this year’s draft that would be a center if he made the team (the Flyers don’t want to move him to the wing).

So who else is it about?

Perhaps Valtteri Filppula.

When he was acquired last year at the trade deadline, Filppula was thought to be a good second-line option. This was before the Flyers moved up in the draft lottery to take Patrick and before signing Mike Vecchione, who now looks like he’ll be a right wing with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Filppula has been at center every day in training camp, unlike some of the other players who hold the versatility of moving to the wing like newcomer Jori Lehtera.

“He can slide over,” general manager Ron Hextall said of Filppula last week. “He’s a really good centerman though, honestly. It’s gonna be interesting to see how it shakes out. Hak and I talk about it almost every day, talk about the different options.”

The option Tuesday was quite the eye-opener. With Giroux and Couturier together on the top line, Filppula could be the second pivot on the depth chart and start the rookie, Patrick, third.

There’s no guarantee the Giroux-on-the-wing experiment sees the light of day in a preseason game (the Flyers have split squad games against the New York Islanders Wednesday), but the players involved seemed to think it’s possible, if not probable.

Having Giroux, a right-hander, and Couturier, a lefty, out together means they can always guarantee a center taking a faceoff on his strong side.

“I think a good example would be (San Jose Sharks forwards) Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski,” Giroux said. “They take faceoffs on their strong side and it’s tough. When you take faceoffs all game long against a guy that’s on his strong side, it’s tough. Maybe I won’t play one more shift on the wing, but that’s up to the coach. I really liked it today.”

Putting that trio together also groups three of the top four returning forwards from last year in terms of 5-on-5 shot attempts for the team. Giroux was first (1,156), Voracek second (1,140), Wayne Simmonds third (1,039), Brayden Schenn, now with the St. Louis Blues, had 990 and Couturier 955.

The Flyers were one of the worst production teams in the league last year at 5-on-5, but a top-10 team in shot attempts. They just couldn’t finish. Making their lineup top heavy has a chance to be beneficial.

“It tells that we are pretty stocked up with centers,” Voracek said. “That’s a pretty good sign, right? If we put G on the left wing, I think that’s a good sign.”

“In this case it’s a line we wanted to look at,” Hakstol added. “For sure it’s tough in the season to take a look at things. But this style of camp, it was a good time for us to be able to do it.”

There’s no guarantee the Flyers even try this in a preseason game, but if they do Giroux doesn’t think the transition will take him too long.

“I got used to it pretty quick,” Giroux said. “I don’t want to talk about it too much because I might not even see a game at the wing, but if I do I’m pretty excited to see what’s going to happen. I could be very bad or I could play a good game. We’ll see.”

Dave Isaac; 856-486-2479; disaac@gannett.com