Briere addresses trade rumors, lays out hints of Flyers draft strategy

It was supposed to be a simple, straightforward pre-draft press conference for Philadelphia Flyers’ general manager Daniel Briere on Thursday, the standard week-before check-in with the local media prior to activity truly ramping up.

Then, Wednesday happened, and suddenly, Briere had to answer for some classic offseason rumor milling.

“Well, it was nice and quiet and I could enjoy my days until yesterday. So you guys kinda changed that all of a sudden,” Briere joked. “You guys (in the media) freaked out a lot of other people around the league. So I’ve (had) a lot more work in the last probably 24 hours.”

Pre-draft activity did indeed kick off a bit early this year, despite the unexpected elongation of the Stanley Cup Final, which will deliver a sixth game on Friday due to Edmonton’s late-series surge. Usually, teams wait until after the final concludes to start making their big moves. Not this year. On Wednesday morning, the New Jersey Devils traded for goalie Jacob Markström, and then the San Jose Sharks picked up both Barclay Goodrow (on waivers) and Ty Dellandrea (via trade).

Finally, the Flyers were brought into the fun. Sort of.

As it turned out, TSN’s Travis Yost — who was the first to break the gist of the Markström trade — had another bit of news to share.

Believe the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers have the framework of a trade in place as well, though this one may go closer to the Draft.

— Travis Yost (@travisyost) June 19, 2024

The idea of a Flyers/Senators trade isn’t a new one. PHLY reported in early June that there has been plenty of leaguewide speculation and rumors linking the two sides over the past few months, with a number of different names in play. But Yost strongly hinted in a follow-up tweet on Thursday that this particular trade concept centered around the Flyers — who currently sit at No. 12 in the first round — looking to move up to Ottawa’s draft selection at No. 7.

So, of course, Briere was asked about the report, which as of Thursday morning’s press conference, had yet to bear actual trade fruit.

“I wouldn’t say there’s anything imminent in our case at this point,” he responded.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that said trade won’t happen in the coming days. The Flyers, by Briere’s own admission, are exploring many different options. And on Thursday, he certainly sounded like a general manager willing to be aggressive in the lead-up to next Friday and Saturday’s NHL Draft.

“To be honest with you, we’re looking at all kinds of things,” he said. “We’re looking to possibly move up with certain picks. We’re looking to move back. Obviously, if we move up, we might have to give up a pick or two. But if the value is worth it to move up, to give up a pick, on a back end, to acquire a player, to pick a player that we really love, we’ll jump on it.”

It’s only Year 2 of the Briere Era in Philadelphia, and as a result, there’s just one draft’s worth of data available to help the hockey world understand his draft-day tendencies — not a large sample at all. But Briere did show his cards a bit in that regard in 2023.

For starters, he showcased the courage necessary to take big risky swings, as he did when he selected Matvei Michkov at No. 7. He leaned more towards skill and upside in the middle of the draft, taking small talented forwards like Denver Barkey and Alex Ciernik. But he also focused on addressing organizational needs, such as RHD (Oliver Bonk, Carter Sotheran) and goaltending (Carson Bjarnason, Egor Zavragin).

So what will Briere’s strategy be this time around? Will he go to similar wells?

Not necessarily.

“Diversity,” Briere responded, when asked about his draft day preferences. “You can’t have all the same (types of prospects). That’s my belief. There’s teams that have certain tendencies. I hope that we can diversify and bring in all kinds of types of players.”

Briere is a unique GM, in the sense that he clearly relishes the scouting side of the job. Prior to taking the full-time GM position in Philadelphia — when he was still special assistant to Chuck Fletcher — Briere was constantly on the road, watching draft-eligible players and directly interacting with the team’s scouts, picking their brains and learning. Even now as general manager, he does his best to prioritize first-hand viewings of prospects — a priority that not many NHL GMs share.

“What I try to do is at least see the top 40 to 50 prospects that are out there,” he said.

It’s not that Briere is a micromanager, intent on overruling his scouts in the draft room. He specifically praised assistant general manager Brent Flahr on Thursday for his work heading up the department, and noted that Flyers scouts see some draft eligibles in person as many as 30 to 40 times before draft day, making them experts on the prospects in a way that Briere simply does not have the time to be.

He defers to those experts. But he still wants to be knowledgeable and hands-on throughout the process, and when the final decisions are made.

“For me, it’s more about having an idea about who we’re drafting. That is why I like seeing the player,” he explained. “I like to have an idea of what they look like and what type of style that they play.”

And every GM has personal preferences when it comes to players — which characteristics he values most, and what tends to catch his eye most frequently. Briere named two in particular on Thursday.

“Hockey sense is an important one. The speed in today’s game is an important one,” he noted.

That is, before going back to his emphasis upon rounding out the prospect pool.

“(In terms of) position, you also try to diversify as much as possible,” he reaffirmed.

In 2023, special care was taken to building up the goaltender pipeline, with two premium picks (top three rounds) used to do so. It made sense, especially given the (ultimately justified) uncertainty surrounding the future of Carter Hart. This year, however, their biggest organizational need is different.

The Flyers need centers.

“Let’s face it: we’re lacking centers coming up throughout the organization,” Briere acknowledged. “We haven’t tried to hide that, it’s a reality.”

Philadelphia’s prospect pipeline is largely barren of quality pivot prospects, especially those with top-sixer potential. There’s Elliot Desnoyers, who regressed offensively in his second year of AHL action, and is more of a center/wing swingman in the Scott Laughton vein than a pure center. There’s Massimo Rizzo, who has significant center experience but likely projects as a pro-level winger. Owen McLaughlin had a strong sophomore campaign at North Dakota, but he’s also a 2021 seventh round pick in need of significant physical development. Cole Knuble — the team’s fourth round pick last year — has NHL upside, but likely as a bottom-sixer at best.

Center is the clear weak point in their pipeline.

And while the 2024 NHL Draft isn’t loaded at center, there are options. Macklin Celebrini, of course, won’t be available for the Flyers even in the event of an aggressive trade-up; he’s going No. 1 to San Jose. But one of Cayden Lindstrom, Konsta Helenius or Berkly Catton could be.

Briere noted on Thursday that he doesn’t plan to “reach” on a center. But positional need could play into their decision-making process when it comes to their high picks, given certain circumstances.

“Yes, if they’re equal, and we have a hard time deciding between two players and one’s a wing and one’s a center, we might lean in to a center,” he acknowledged.

Briere made sure to affirm, however, that even if their positional priorities might be a little different at this draft, their overarching willingness to take risks with the aim of unearthing impact talent remains.

“Obviously, we’re all for it,” he said. “And we showed that last year with Matvei that we’re willing to go there. If there’s something that makes sense again, kinda the same way, we will.”

Briere interestingly hinted that the Flyers’ view of the draft’s “top-tier” could be a bit larger than public consensus, which tends to place the cutoff point at around pick 14. Briere’s read on that tier seems to be a bit more expansive.

“There’s a lot of good players, especially in the top probably 16 or 17 of the draft,” he noted. “We’re going to get a good player, that’s how we feel.”

And that could, at least in theory, open the door even to a potential trade-down from No. 12 — which would throw Wednesday’s rumored trade out the window entirely.

“If there’s a clump of players that we feel comfortable with, we might try to move back to acquire more assets, either later in the draft or next year.” Briere said. “So, everything’s on the table for us, we’re looking at all kinds of options.”

Everything is indeed on the table for Briere and the Flyers — as the craziness of Wednesday reminded all.