Claude Giroux has had a revelatory season for the Philadelphia Flyers. His 37 points lead the NHL, and have him right in the thick of the Hart Trophy conversation. People all over hockey are buzzing about him being elevated to star player status this season.
The fact that he's apparently a ninja will only contribute to that legend, as Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins discovered in Thursday night's 3-2 Flyers win. Watch Giroux's cat-like reflexes in avoiding a Malkin head-hunt:
As Matt P. of The 700 Level wrote: "Silly Malkin. Don't you know Giroux can move like Neo?"
(Fantasy casting: Paul Holmgren as Agent Smith, Jaromir Jagr as Morpheus, Danny Briere as Trinity, Max Talbot at the Merovingian, Peter Laviolette as the Architect, Ilya Bryzgalov as the Oracle — "Why you heff to be The One? It's just the Matrix." — and, of course, Scott Hartnell as Chewbacca.)
Giroux is in the top three for the Hart right now, and we'd place him there with Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks. Amongst goalies, the clear MVP candidate is Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings, lugging the team through the mire with a 1.89 GAA in 23 starts.
As for Malkin, let's just hope Bryan Murray didn't see this.