With the Philadelphia Flyers sitting at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division and owning two separate 10+ game losing streaks this year, there hasn’t been many positives to cling onto. The few positives include: Claude Giroux still producing and putting up numbers, Cam Atkinson is actually shooting the puck and scoring at a high clip, and Carter Hart owns a .915 save percentage playing in front of yet another dysfunctional defense.
One storyline and name to keep an eye on moving forward is that of Daniel Briere. The former player turned executive has risen up the ranks in the last few years and given his trajectory, it’s quite possible the Flyers are grooming him to be their next general manager.
When the Montreal Canadiens fired long-time general manager Marc Bergevin, many names were thrown in the ring to take over one of the most difficult and tumultuous job in the NHL. Briere was one of the 3 finalists for the job after all was said and done. Ultimately, the Canadiens went with Kent Hughes, but the idea that Briere was that close to becoming the general manager of his home-province team, makes things that much more interesting moving forward.
By now everyone is aware of the Flyers’ struggles, the changing of the guard at the general manager position since the early 2010s, and where the team currently stands. For the time being, Chuck Fletcher is safe for another year as Dave Scott truly believes in his foundation, base, and decision-making moving forward. A rebuild isn’t in the cards, otherwise I feel like the Flyers would definitely shuffle the deck in terms of their executives.
With all that said, Briere has increased his value, his reputation, and his candidacy in the short term. He is currently the President and Governor of the ECHL’s Maine Mariners and while he runs the day to day operations for that club, he is also a key cog in the Flyers organization as well.
After retiring in 2015, Briere joined the Flyers as a special assistant to then general manager, Ron Hextall. A couple years later he was appointed as the Vice President of Operations for the Mariners in 2017 and then eventually got promoted to President and Governor in 2021. Outside of the Canadiens’ general manager position, he also had interest from the Arizona Coyotes for their assistant general manager position this past summer.
For the Flyers, he has been spotted sitting with general manager Chuck Fletcher and assistant general managers Brent Flahr and Barry Hanrahan, just as recently as their last game against the Winnipeg Jets. He has been apart of nearly every executive meeting in the last few years, has had his hand in pro and amateur scouting meetings, and player development. On top of all that, the Flyers have mentioned that Briere will assist in special assignments in and around the trade deadline and more amateur scouting at the end of the season and into the summer:
“I was always attracted to management more than coaching, for some reason. I was attracted to the building of a team. Even growing up, I was attracted to numbers, making numbers work. Even though I didn’t know much about it, that’s why the business side was exciting, because it’s a lot about numbers. That’s why I was attracted to management: the numbers and having the chance to build something.”
The idea is to shift his role less from amateur and player development and have more of a focus on personnel and the business side of things. Briere has said before that he’s always been more intrigued with the management side of the sport rather than coaching and has always been thankful for the Flyers for giving him these opportunities:
“Paul gave me the chance to follow him; to learn what he was doing as Team President. To see the ins and outs on a daily basis – what he was up to. They also opened their doors to give me the chance to get involved with all the departments, any department. At first, that’s what I would do: one day I would come in and spend a little time with Ticket Sales, the next I would spend a little time with the finance department, then the Marketing department, and then Social Media.
“They gave me free reign to come in and do as much or as little as I was interested. The freedom early on was nice after playing for so long, but it was exciting.”
After being under the tutelage of the Flyers brass, he learned so much so fast that they finally gave him the opportunity he was longing for in the management side of things:
“I touch on both sides (business and hockey). On a daily basis, we will deal with prices on the business side; sometimes it could be working on leases with the City or County, affiliation agreements, jerseys, schedules, projections with the budget. Then there is the hockey side, with the coaches, getting involved with the players, injuries. The big thing this year is trying to find players. Being hit with Covid, the NHL needs players and they take from the AHL, and in return they take some from the ECHL. We have to find players that can come and help us – there’s a trickle-down effect.
“I have a great team around me, both on the business side and the hockey side, to help me. It’s definitely not a one man show.”
When asked about the possibility of becoming a GM in the future he had this to say:
“It would be fun (becoming a GM), but I try not to get lost in it too much. The approach that I have is when I played, everything was so intense as a player. You’re always worried about the next day, if you’re going to be on the first, second or fourth line, if you’re even going to be in the lineup, are you going to be on the powerplay or penalty kill. You’re worried about a month from now, are you still going to be part of the solution. You’re worried about your contract, how long your career is going to be – you’re always looking ahead. What I try to do now is live in the moment as much as possible, enjoy what’s in front of me.
“I’m enjoying what I’m doing so much, I’m having a blast everyday and I try to focus on that. Obviously, your mind wanders here and there. One day it would be cool to move up and have a bigger role, but it’s not something I’m thinking about everyday.
The idea and the prospect of having Daniel Briere as the next Flyers general manager is becoming more a possibility by the day. It’s not etched in stone and it might not happen anytime soon, but let’s not forget that when Ron Hextall was the assistant general manager under Paul Holmgren, he was receiving interest from other teams. That interest, alongside the downfall of the Flyers under Holmgren, eventually forced the Flyers’ hand. Briere might not be there just yet but he is slowly building his reputation and he is starting to get the recognition around the league that might force the Flyers’ hand in the near future.
Briere has been involved in nearly every aspect of the Flyers day to day operations in the last few years. He was involved with the rehab of players like Kevin Hayes and Ryan Ellis, he was behind the bench during AHL games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and has been involved in a lot of important board meetings as a special assistant to the general manager. He is definitely being groomed for a future job, but with interest from a few clubs already, can the Flyers be patient in their grooming or will they be forced into making a move? Several teams have had success with appointing former players as general managers and maybe it’s time for a fresh, young, and new look in the press box.
