Earlier this morning, interim general manager Daniel Briere of the Philadelphia Flyers held a press conference introducing his new title to the media. Briere touched on many aspects of where he expects Flyers' hockey to go. One of the more popular soundbites coming out of the press conference is that Briere believes the Flyers must enter a “rebuild that will be a multi-year process”. Jeff Marek of ESPN also noted that Briere doesn’t believe a fire sale is justifiable, as he believes there are still talented players on their current roster.
Since his retirement from the NHL after the 2014-15 season, Briere has been working in various capacities for Philadelphia since 2017. Briere was initially put in charge of the ECHL’s Maine Mariners, a team that was purchased by Comcast Spectacor, the same ownership group of the Flyers. After serving as general manager for the Mariners, Briere was named a special assistant to the general manager for the Flyers halfway through last season.
The Flyers are expected to go through a hiring process to determine who will oversee this team full-time, and although Briere may be the front-runner, there is no guarantee that he will be given the job. With a deep 2023 NHL Draft on the horizon, and the Flyers having some money coming off the books before free agency begins, it will be interesting to see how Briere handles putting the beginning touches on the Flyers’ rebuild.
Other notes from the press conference:
- Briere gave a lot of credit to former teammate Ian Laperriere in his development of key prospects on Philadelphia’s AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Since being named the head coach before the 2021-22 AHL season, Laperriere has helped graduate several Flyers prospects such as Cameron York, Tyson Foerster, and Morgan Frost. With a lot of changes expected to come internally to the Flyers organization, Laperriere may be a popular name for promotion.
- Since taking a job with the Flyers during the 2018-19 season, assistant general manager Brent Flahr has seen many ups and downs in Philadelphia. Briere noted during his press conference that the expectation is that Flahr is expected to remain with the team for the foreseeable future. Since working his way up as a scout with the Florida Panthers and Anaheim Ducks, Flahr spent a few short seasons with the Ottawa Senators as their Director of Hockey Operations. Beginning in the 2009-10 season until his eventual move to Philadelphia, Flahr was the assistant general manager of the Minnesota Wild.
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