Soft Hands: Free Agent Frenzy Ends with Giroux Bum Deal

The GDP of a small Pacific island nation has been spent in the first week of the NHL's 2014 free agent frenzy.

Traditionally, it takes a year or two to figure out which transactions were dazzlers and which were duds.

This year, however, the first bum deal was confirmed before Ryan Miller could say "I'm coachable."

And it was signed a full twelve months ago.

Claude Giroux's butt-grabbing gaffe with the Ottawa RCMP constabulary on Canada Day has now elevated his 2013 extension to the upper echelon of bonehead moves. When Flyers GM Paul Holmgren gave his gifted but gormless franchise man $66million over eight years, he never imagined it would turn out to be a gluteus maximus deal, the likes of which could haunt and hurt the star player for the rest of his career.

The question for the Flyers now is much like the dilemma that existed for the groped policeman's partners: do they save his ass? Giroux's ability is unquestioned; he showed this year he could bottom out and still finish as a Hart Trophy finalist.

But this is not the first brush with absurdity for Philly's Captain Fondle. And the Flyers have shown in the past that they will not rest on their backsides when it comes to issues of public conduct, even when it involves star players and the 'C'.

Stay tuned -- it'll be a while before this is in the rear-view mirror.