What's Wrong With Claude?

Since returning from his concussion on December 21st, Claude Giroux has not been the same player.  Maybe it's the concussion or maybe it's the fact that teams are defending him better, but statistically Giroux simply has not been as productive since his concussion.

Since December 21st, Giroux has played in 22 games tallying 5 goals and 17 assists for a total of 22 points.  Assists wise, Giroux is still finding the open guy and making plays for his teammates.  But Giroux has yet to get on a consistent goal scoring streak since his injury.

I really don't think that Claude's goal scoring problems have anything to do with his injury.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Claude was so ridiculously hot in the beginning of the year that teams were forced to respond by putting down the clamps on Giroux once he returned from his injury.  As a result of increased attention toward Giroux, the rest of the line's production has decreased slightly as well.  Since the 21st Jagr has played in 18 games notching just 3 goals and 9 assists in the process.  Scott Hartnell has been pretty consistent with 10 goals and 8 assists during that span.

Now those numbers aren't bad, but when you look at that line's production during the first few months of the season they simply don't compare.

Ultimately I think that Claude's competitive nature will help his goal scoring improve in the near future.  The key for Giroux is to just stay calm and try not to get overly frustrated.  Team's are going to play their best defenders against him; that's unavoidable and out of Giroux's control.  But what he can control is how he responds and plays going up against the best defenders of opposing teams.  And even if he can't find the back of the net then he should just continue to help out his teammates.  17 assists is very impressive and he needs to keep making plays and helping his team win games.