Hockey

Daniel Brière Talks Zegras Trade, Michkov’s Fit, And Flyers’ Rebuild

Published: Jun 26, 2025, 12:00 PM
7 min read
Updated: Jul 8, 2025, 7:35 AM
Fact checked by:
Sergey Demidov
Philadelphia Flyers general manager Danny Briere

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.”

“In Cam York’s case, we think something will get done [contractually] soon. I’m not worried about that. Cam had, maybe for his standards, a little bit of a step back last year. Not that he was bad, but we know he can give us even more. I think there’s still a lot of upside there. Defense is one of the toughest positions to master, and with young guys like him, you have to be patient. There’s going to be some ups and downs along the way. Same thing with (Jamie) Drysdale. We went through it with Travis Sanheim earlier in his career before he turned into a dominant force on defense. I think Cam York and Jamie Drysdale are going through that at this time, and we expect them to just keep getting better and better.”
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.”

“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.”

Hockey Reporter
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.
Interests:
NHL
MLB
NBA
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Travel
Music
Sneakers
Dogs
Being a Dad

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James Murphy
James Murphy
NHL Reporter

James Murphy is a veteran sports journalist covering the NHL, NCAA and CHL hockey for RG.

With 25 years of experience covering the Bruins, the NHL, NCAA, CHL and more, Murphy has seen it all when it comes to hockey. His hockey black book is filled with Hall of Famers, current players, coaches, management, scouts and a diverse array of hockey media personalities who have lived and worked in and around the game. Murphy also currently co-hosts The Eye Test podcast with Pierre McGuire and, along with McGuire, interviews NHL owners and executives, as well as NHL and NCAA head coaches and players daily.

The Arlington, Massachusetts, native began his writing career in hockey in 2001, when the Boston Bruins raised one of his childhood idols, Ray Bourque’s No. 77, to the rafters before their 2001–02 season opener. For 22 of his 25 years as a hockey reporter, Murphy covered the Bruins daily, including their victorious 2011 Stanley Cup run and their runs to the 2013 and 2019 Finals, multiple NHL drafts and countless Stanley Cup playoffs. He did all that for the Boston Metro, NHL.com, NESN.com and ESPN Boston.

In addition to his print work covering the Bruins, Murphy also made regular TV appearances on NESN, Fox 25 Boston, ESPN and NHL Network. From 2008 to 2012, Murphy hosted The Hockey Primetime Show on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and made numerous appearances on national and international radio shows.

Ironically, his three years not covering the Bruins were spent covering their archrivals, the Montreal Canadiens. From 2012 to 2015, Murphy was based in Montreal and covered the Canadiens for NHL.com and TSN.ca. He also appeared regularly on TSN 690 radio and CTV.

Murphy returned to Boston in 2015 and left the media business to work in sales and marketing for LiveBarn, a Montreal-based sports streaming company, for four years. In 2019, Murphy once again became a Bruins beat reporter, this time writing for Boston Hockey Now. He spent four seasons working for BHN before arriving at RG in 2024 and also dedicated more time to The Eye Test podcast.

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