I like what Briere did, he has been consistent in his approach as GM, swinging for high talent , holding out for value on trading away veterans.

It’s a disappointing result both because the Flyers could use more premium assets and because Risto’s value is likely at its peak. If Briere could have gotten a first round pick for Risto, he should have taken it. But it doesn’t sound like that happened, even though lesser players, players with worse contracts, or both commanded first round picks. The glut of defensemen available at the deadline did not help.

If the Flyers took a deal from the Sabres with Rosen it would have been pretty hilarious since Rosen was taken with the PHI first round pick BUF got for taping Risto to us.

He’s insane if he thinks they’ll ever get these offers again. His value goes down every day.

Because of his track-record (especially the Laughton deal), I’m willing to give Briere the benefit of the doubt here and trust his judgement. As Charlie said, time will tell and we’ll have a much better idea about how smart the decision to hold firm was, possibly as soon as this off season, but I’m not too disappointed we didn’t get anything for Risto, yet.

I do have a little worry, though, about trading a logjam at wing for a logjam at RHD (and also sad to see a permanent end to the Foerster-Cates-Brink line). I think one, or both, of Bonk and Jiricek have real NHL talent and hope they both get full opportunities to develop with some significant NHL minutes soon. Again, I’m going to trust Briere here and assume he has a plan for freeing up the RHD logjam this summer, so no need to get too worked up right now.

I don’t think we got significantly better or worse with the deals made; Briere nibbled around the edges and punted on the Risto decision for a bit. I’d give Briere an Incomplete for this deadline, with a full grade on hold until we see what happens over the summer.

I really, really REALLY was hoping for a Risto trade, and to have one of the younger prospects brought up – it would give me a reason to watch this mostly boring AF team play yet another low-event, grind-it-out game.

But rationally, if Briere wasnt getting a lot for him, he did the right thing by not trading him. The goal is not to acquire a lot of middling depth, but to get opportunities to swing for a home run.

I saw Charlie’s argument on YT about “what if he gets hurt” – what if he does? What are the Flyers missing out? A 2nd round pick or some bottom-half-of-the-lineup player? They have plenty of those. OTOH, if he does play 20 games and shows he is a bit more reliable physically, that could give them a potential first round pick or a prospect with higher upside. That’s a gamble that’s worth taking.

In many ways, that’s an exact parallel to the gamble Briere took in trading Brink for Jiricek: trading a bottom half of the roster player for a swing at a high upside.

Great job writing this article, Charlie, you are the best Flyers writer in the business based on quality work like this, well done! Your research on the asking price for Risto and reasons why he was retained are sound. Hopefully this benefits Jiricek in the long run by rebuilding his game first before he is locked on the NHL club next season. Maybe now wasn’t the optimal time to deal Risto but that time is now in the offseason where a best offer of a 2nd round pick package needs to be considered. Much like moving out Brink, Risto needs to be moved out to make room for Jiricek and/ or Bonk, who are now the future of the Flyers defense core.

I don’t know when you guys in the Philadelphia NHL press corps are going to get it.
Danny B has proven to be a very astute gambler. He is slowly adding to his list of successful gambles and this one is just his latest. I’m glad he stuck to his guns. You make some very good points on how Risto’s value might be at its highest right now, but isn’t Briere’s approach refreshing after too many years of “safe” moves? He may very well get the value out of Risto this summer. You have to give Danny the benefit of a doubt. So far, he has earned it.