Philadelphia Flyers general manager Danny Briere (Photo by AP)
Daniel Brière was groomed for his gig as the Philadelphia Flyers’ GM, but little could prepare him for a roster built by four different executives, the abrupt return of the Philly goaltending carousel, and the pressure of finding a path back to competitiveness in front of some of the most demanding fans in the NHL.
But Brière, who was known as a player for his excellence late in games and seasons alike, has joined team president Keith Jones in a bid to return to relevance on Broad Street.
He made time during an insanely busy week—in which he already acquired Trevor Zegras without touching any of his three first-round picks in this weekend’s NHL Draft—to chat exclusively with RG Media.
I wanted to follow up a little on Zegras. I inferred from your comments on Monday that maybe there’d been some discussion in earnest about him well before this. Can you share when you first had interest in or discussion about him?
“We’ve had some interest in (Zegras), it probably goes back like a year. It was something that Anaheim wasn’t ready to do, but they knew we had some interest. We were trying to find some young, talented, skilled players, so for us, he kind of fit that bill. But they weren’t ready to move him, or we couldn’t agree on the price earlier.
Discussions picked up last weekend, and on Monday we all agreed that it was time to pull the trigger.”
I can take more than a guess based on coach Rick Tocchet’s comments, but was part of Zegras’ appeal getting another creative player into a lineup that has Matvei Michkov—and maybe getting another facilitator on the power play? How much do you value the locker-room aspect?
“It’s going to be interesting to see if they can find some chemistry. You never know. With certain players you play with, it just clicks, and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. You can’t really control that ahead of time. It’s the best feeling in the world when you step on the ice and you have someone that you feel you know next to you. At this point, I can’t tell you if that’s going to be there, but they certainly have a different offensive mind than most people. Now, we just hope that it clicks, it connects, and see if they can play together. But if not, if they’re on different lines, you also have two really offensive-minded guys seeing the game in a different way that can help other players on the team as well.”
“We did our research on Trevor, obviously, to find out the type of person that he is. Everything checked out as far as the character of the person and how he would fit into our group. That was never an issue.”
Do you still feel like center is an area of need—whether on the main roster, in the organization or both?
“Center is still a priority. We also had to give up a center in (the Zegras) trade. We were already thin at the center position. Everybody’s looking for centers, so they’re at a premium. We’ll see.
We hope Trevor can play center, but I think we still need more depth there.”
What prospects are you excited to see across development camp, rookie camp and training camp?
“We have a lot of guys that are turning pro this upcoming season. We have Jett Luchanko, who impressed us last year. He could go back to junior, but being a year older, he might be ready to play. We have Alex Bump, (Denver) Barkey and (Devin) Kaplan, who are all turning pro. We also have, on defense, Oliver Bonk, and Hunter McDonald is a year into his pro career as well. There are definitely some guys that are getting closer to knocking on the door, and that’s very exciting for us.”
I wanted to ask about a couple of roster players as well—first, Cam York, in terms of what you envision for him next year and long term; and secondly, what you anticipate for Michkov with Tocchet coming in and the current direction of the franchise?
“The exciting part is that (Tocchet) has done wonders with offensive guys in the past. He’s coached a lot of elite, skilled players, and we feel that Matvei is right up there in that class in how he thinks the game and how competitive he is. (Tocchet) is extremely competitive, so he’s going to love that side of Matvei, and I think he’ll be able to help Matvei take another step in his game, which is really exciting to us.”
Then broadly, where do you think you guys are in your build? I know it was a distinct situation to have a roster built by four different GMs and a lot of other curves along the way. As you assess a draft where you’ve got three first-rounders and examine what seems like a very active trade market, what are you looking to accomplish this summer that might move the needle?
“Center depth, adding goaltending help, and maybe a veteran presence if it’s possible. We don’t have a ton of cap space—we have a little bit. That’s what we’ve been trying to do the last couple years, clean up that area and put our cap situation in a better light. We’re starting to see some opening in that, but we’re not fully there yet. We’re at a juncture where we might be able to help the team take a step this year, make the team a little bit more competitive than we were last year, and see where it takes us. Then it’s going to be up to the players to show us how ready—or not—we are as a team. The exciting part through all this is that we’re trying to improve the team, but at the same time, we have lots of early picks this year. A lot of our picks from the last couple years are starting to turn pro or come into the system, and some of the young guys are starting to take more of a step forward on the team. (Noah) Cates and (Tyson) Foerster have come to light, (Bobby) Brink as well, obviously Michkov, so there’s a lot there. We feel we’re moving in the right direction, but it doesn’t happen overnight.”
Do you value bringing in an experienced player to help solidify a group that has been trending younger?
“With losing Scotty Laughton [at the trade deadline], losing Ryan Poehling in this trade—if it were possible, and if we have some money—we’d like to look at possibly finding a good veteran presence to come into the locker room. He’d be a player that can still help us win games and make us a better team, but who would also help in the leadership department.”
Andrew Knoll has covered sports across three different decades, highlighted by being the lead NHL contributor to The New York Times in addition to reporting for ESPN and being a beat reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News. The NHL is his forte, having covered multiple Stanley Cup Final series, All-Star Games and even the NHL Outdoors. Beyond sports, he is a music junkie, sneaker addict and travel fiend, who can also converse in Spanish and Portuguese.
