Earlier this morning, the GM of the Philadelphia Flyers, Daniel Brière, addressed the media ahead of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
Teams open media availability a week before the NHL Entry Draft. Today served as a pathway of communication regarding any ongoing trade discussions, the approach to free agency, and the Flyers’ philosophy before the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
For the most part, Brière stuck to his guns. Philadelphia wasn’t going to be the overly aggressive team this offseason, and as always, Brière will listen to sensible trade offers. These ideologies haven’t changed since the end of the season after hearing from Dan Hilferty, Keith Jones, and John Tortorella.
But, this media availability included more than those ideologies. Never showing his hand, Brière gave his insight into what the Flyers are looking for at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. A couple of the main characteristics Brière pointed out related to speed and hockey IQ. In addition to those traits, Brière outright focused on the center position. A few prospects fulfill those prerequisites, but at Flyers Nation, our mock draft points to Cole Eiserman.
“If we have a hard time deciding between two players, and one’s a wing, one’s a center, we might lean into a center because let’s face it, we’re lacking centers coming up throughout the organization. We haven’t tried to hide that, it’s a reality.” – Daniel Brière; 6/20/2024
However, that isn’t a lock. Brière kept his cards close to the vest. Philadelphia has the capital to trade up at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, but they could trade down for the right deal, acquiring capital for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Collecting as much draft capital is vital to the rebuild, especially when Matvei Michkov and Oliver Bonk sync to arrive together in 2026-2027. There are a lot of different possibilities for the Flyers with the 12th overall selection.
“When you talk about the rebuild last year, there’s the three following drafts from the time we started in May or April; those next three drafts, we had a lot of picks in, and we acquired a few more. We had ten last year, we have ten picks this year, [and] we have ten picks next year. [We had] two firsts last year, [we have] two firsts in the moment this year, and two firsts at the moment next year. Those are really critical drafts for us when you’re doing a rebuild, especially now in a cap era where it’s really tough to go out and sign free agents. That’s what we hope to be the base for us moving forward. They’re critical drafts, and there’s still going to be a really strong focus on that. If we have the chance to acquire more picks, it has to make sense at the same time. To be honest with you, we’re looking at all kinds of things. We’re looking to possibly move up with certain picks, [and] 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 the back end to acquire a player or pick a player that we really love, we’ll jump on it. On the flip side, 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. Everything’s on the table for us.” – Daniel Brière; 6/20/2024
Yesterday, the rumor mill said a lot of things. The two franchises stuck in the middle were Philadelphia and the Ottawa Senators. In the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, the Senators have the 7th overall pick, and speculation stirred regarding a potential opportunity to trade up with Ottawa.
“It was nice and quiet, and I could enjoy my days until yesterday. You guys changed that all of a sudden. You guys freaked out a lot of other people around the league. I’ve had a lot more work in the last twenty-four hours, but I think it’s normal, too. As you get closer to the draft, that’s when things heat up. Last year, we jumped on something early with Columbus [Blue Jackets] and LA [Los Angeles Kings]. We saw yesterday, there’s a few trades happening. I wouldn’t say there’s anything imminent in our case at this point, but I expect things to keep ramping up, and if it makes sense, we’re going to jump on it.” – Daniel Brière; 6/20/2024
Scott Laughton is on the tip of a few tongues. Last September, the Senators had an interest in Laughton. Other names included in rumors are Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny. Laughton and Farabee gain steam but take Konecny with a helping of salt. To reiterate, Brière is fielding sensible offers as any team would ahead of the NHL Entry Draft.
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