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18 Comments (6 conversations)
MarioD
Extremely naive. They’ve done the easiest part: firmly moving into the mushy middle. Their best skater in the playoffs is firmly in the backside of his career. As their young players improve their best players will regress leaving a net push and remaining in the mushy middle. And they were carried by a 29 year old journeyman goalie having a career year, which they’ll need him to repeat well into his thirties.
Finding a star player was always the hardest part and all the legitimate criticism was their handwavinflg away that difficulty.
Now they are acknowledging it is more difficult than they expected yet still leaping to the assumption they can do it.
At this point, they are in a worse position to acquire a star player than they were when Briere took over. They’ve missed a handful of chances and have almost none left.
This is a wildly premature victory lap.
Stephen Maurer
Well said. That Briere is crowing after winning one round against a poor Penguins team before getting shellacked by Carolina is concerning.
I hope he’s right, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Hughbert Green
This is why we Philadelphia fans are called Negadelphia fans.
Luke Damato
8 years and counting of your misery in charlies comment sections. Enjoy living in that
Hughbert Green
In your opinion, Who was their best skater in the playoffs? I think we have different best skaters. Mine is the horse that led the blue line corps and he is in his prime. You are probably referring to a forward who played very well, our captain, who is on the downward side but has a less important role going forward.
As for finding a star, and your comment that they are leaping to the assumption that they can do it. Yes, of course they think thy can do that. If they didn’t they are in the wrong business. In fact, it looks like they may have already found two stars, Michkov ( if the prognosticators are correct, and he has scored at least 20 goals and 50 points in each of his first two seasons, one of which was considered disappointing, and Martone, who has all the markings of a star player. Both of whom are “budding stars” and in a few years will more than likely reach that status. TrevorZegras could also reach a level of stardom, so yes, they should feel confident in their ability to find stars.
I don’t think they have mis handled anything. Their “misses” look like NHL players at least, that being Luchanko and Nesbitt (who the jury is still out on and will be for a few years), and they look like no worse than third liners, so that is not a “miss” in the same vein as picking a washout in the first round like Ryan Sittler was. Time will tell with theses guys.
Try to stop being a negative Nellie and try to enjoy success however small it might be. Life will be so much better.
Robert Fleishman
Man, it must be hard to live in this negativity – They are WAY better positioned to get a star player now than they were when Briere took over.
Not only do they have an internal candidate or three (Michkov, Zegras, Martone) but they have a ton of cap space and a deep pool of NHL-ready prospects (Barkey, Bump, Bonk) plus former high picks in their Dev curves (Jett, Nesbitt, Bergland) plus future picks (including the TOR 2027 1st) from which to deal.
Are they better positioned to get (read: draft) an 18-yo guy who COULD become a legit star? No, of course not. But they are way better positioned to get an already established star in his prime on a rebuilding team because of the depth/quality of the pieces and the ability to offer that player a rich extension. The Austin Matthews talk is premature IMO but AM34 is just the first of what I expect will be quite a few star players that come available because their current teams need young assets with which to rebuild – We are the big game hunters now.
MarioD
They had way more pieces to trade for a guy like Auston Matthews when Briere took over (a young cheap TK, future first round picks of great value, a young Sanheim) than they have now.
jonas
Somehow, MarioD returned.
Seriously, man, how do you live like this? Just constant negativity.
Sharad Shah
They could just as easily have missed the playoffs if a few other teams didn’t collapse in the last two weeks. Not knocking the organization’s accomplishments, but good fortune is a bit of a roller coaster. I had them pegged to finish between 5 and 12 from the bottom, but this was all a welcomed surprise. The youth and enthusiasm both from the team and fan base was a pleasant change that took me back to 2010-2012. “There’s hope!”
Competitive makeup of the Metropolitan Division suggests that repeating may not be easy. Not being a Debbie Downer–just being pragmatic.
So how does a team lock down the high-end talent if they don’t have the top 3 picks in a draft? Much goes back to that good fortune and the draft has produced…mixed…results. Misses on Patrick and Gauthier hurt. Would be nice if they get lucky and wind up with one of those Giroux-type picks that can radically change the outlook of the team, and that hasn’t happened in awhile. Maybe they’re due? Lack of solid, team-changing UFAs and the emphasis on sticking with patience make the 2027 draft (the possible 2 first rounders) critical. UFA pool in 2027 has Bowen Byram (at the moment), but not a whole lot–meaning the Flyers would need to look for a trade or just stick with patience, drafting, and hoping for the best.
For that reason, I’m thinking long-term and hoping both the Flyers and Maple Leafs have bad (but hopefully “off”) years in 2027 and the ping pong balls bounce in their favor.
MarioD
Strong comparisons between this team and the 2022-23 Devils.
Michael Curran
Nice season and glad they are climbing the local relevancy ladder but there is still a lot of work to do.
Look at Carolina and Colorado and you will see that the summit is still way off in the distance.
James Heim
I don’t mind Briere feeling good about this past season & thinking they are on the right path. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do this offseason to show they are progressing still. I think back to 2014 when thinking about the current squad. While that team didn’t win a round, they took the team that represented the east in the Cup Final to 7 games after finishing just 2 points back of them in the season & needing to use their backup goalie for the first 3 games. I think it’s the most comparable situation in recent history. They couldn’t build off that for a number of reasons including some bad injury luck. Hopefully they keep things moving forward.
Vandit Kalia
This season has been a success. The team was easy to root for, beat the Pens and had all of us hoping for a miracle. If folks cant appreciate that and wait and see what the future brings, but instead choose to embrace misery/“woe is me, 50 years blah blah blah”, then really, maybe they should stop following a sport that seems to just make them miserable and go do something else with their time. I mean, sports is meant to be fun – and if you can’t enjoy a resurgent team, then what’s the point?
As an aside, am I the only one who found the article to be somewhat loaded, with phrases like “victory lap”, “preening”, etc?
Charlie O'Connor
AuthorThe funny part is, in writing the piece, I worried I was being too pro-Briere.
Michael Curran
Charlie,
I think some folks hinted at that. However like Guadzilla said the season was a success and I know personally I was not expecting playoffs let alone a first round win. Briere is right in staying the course. They are still a ways off if you use Carolina and Colorado as barometers. Maybe the absence of big name FA is a blessing in disguise. I don’t want Briere getting “Sniderish” and dolling out big cash in Bryzgalof type fashion.
Me? I have my genie lamp wishing for Quinn Hughes and Connor McDavid to test the free agent market. Wishful thinking? Probably but there is always hope.
Vandit Kalia
I am really happy he is staying the course and not trying to accelerate the process by making dumb FA signings.
Getting McJesus would be a dream come true, but I think they might have a better chance of trying to pry Draisatl out of Edmonton in exchange for some good, low-cost top-6 depth pieces. That would also let Edmonton use the freed cap space to sign a few more players and actually make them more competitive than being the 3-player team they are.
Vandit Kalia
Haha, fair enough – sometimes there is a disconnect between what one intends to write and how it is perceived.
I don’t know how anyone can honestly complain about Briere’s GM job – the “we should have tanked” ship sailed a long ago and people need to find a way to deal with it. Once you get past that, he’s done an absolutely stellar job as far as his personnel moves go – about the only thing that is a question mark is his drafting.
David LaVeck
Briere deserves his flowers but like Tocchet, it hasn’t been all good. The Dvorak contract extension is yet another long term contract that is too shortsighted. Dvo may have had a decent season overall but he really fell off during the end of the season. The impetus for the contract seems to be a read on the free agent market yet his comments seem to be in sharp contrast to that. One wouldn’t expect the type of player they need to be there anyway so I am not sure why this was ever seen as an avenue for upgrading the team? A trade is the best option and it always was. Back to Dvo, his position also seems to be blocking other potential center already on the roster such as Ziggy & now Barkey as only one of them is an option at a given time baring injury. This is because the bottom of the lineup is set for center with Cates and Coots having locked those spots up. So, the Flyers have no 1C and 3 candidates for 2C. Had the Flyers not signed Dvo they would be better off for the future as he is redundant as an alternate Cates type player. I am curious to see how they are going to fit all these players plus the newer Martone & Bump, who are seemingly locks for the lineup next season. They should trade some of these redundant players, if they even can.