Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere meets with the media at the halfway point of the season.

Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere met with the local media on Tuesday morning to discuss the state of the team at present and in the short-term future. Here are four central themes Briere reiterated when asked about the team's plans before the trade deadline and offseason.

1. Goalie situation: "Moving parts"

The Flyers have carried three goaltenders on their NHL roster -- No. 1 goaltender Samuel Ersson and backups Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov -- since rookie netminder Kolosov was recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

"It's not ideal to have three goalies," Briere said. "We realize that."

Injuries have been one factor. Ersson was sidelined for three different spells this season with a recurring lower-body issue. It took time for Ersson to regain his form after each of the first two stints of being sidelined.

More recently, Ersson has been healthy and has played quite well since the leaguewide holiday break. Over his last eight starts, Ersson has posted a 7-1-0 record, 1.56 goals against average, .933 save percentage and one shutout.

As long as Ersson stays healthy -- which Briere admitted is something he needs to keep in mind, given the player's three spells of being sidelined and past groin surgery back during the 2021-22 season -- the top of the goalie rotation seems to be set.

A second factor: inconsistent play by the backups. With the No. 2 goalie spot, Fedotov (who turned 28 on November 28) started out the season in that role but stumbled out of the gates. Kolosov showed promise with his lateral movement and athleticism, and temporarily unseated Fedotov as the No. 2 goalie when Ersson was able to play.

Fedotov spent a full month from early December to early January relegated to No. 3 status -- in other words, being a healthy scratch in games -- on the depth chart. However, Kolosov started to falter in his own right. The now 23-year-old netminder has thus far had a "one bad goal per start" tendency or a proneness to make a key save but then yield a goal moments later.

More recently, Fedotov has at least temporarily reclaimed the No. 2 role. Since Christmas, the huge-framed and unorthodox-styled Fedotov has gone 0-1-2 while stopping 54 of 62 shots and posting a 2.59 GAA.

"If you take out those first three starts [of the regular season, he’s a capable back up goalie now, but [three] weeks ago, he was the number three. So, kudos to him for working his way back in," Briere said.

A healthy scratch in recent weeks, Kolosov last played on January 2 in a 5-2 road loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. How much longer will the Flyers carry three goalies on the active roster? Briere said that he's uncertain.

"There’s a lot of moving parts," Briere said. "We’re looking at different options. And now Fedotov is the backup, so we’re looking at different things."

Briere said there is no indication that Kolosov would refuse an AHL assignment to the Phantoms, if that's the direction the general manager decides to go. Per Briere, has not been discussed with the player or agent, but the roster decision would not be determined by that factor.

2. No in-season discussions with restricted free agents

During the upcoming offseason, the Flyers have four impending restricted free agents: defenseman Cam York and forwards Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates and Morgan Frost. Briere said on Tuesday that no in-season discussions on contract extensions have taken place with the agents for these players.

The GM said that he considers all four players to be part of his roster plan beyond the current season. Frost and Cates, both 25, can become unrestricted free agents on July 1, 2026. All four players are eligible for salary arbitration this summer.

3. Players age 25 or younger

Frost and Joel Farabee have both been the subject of trade rumors the last two seasons. Briere said on Tuesday that caution is in order when considering such trades. Both players have had significant stretches of solid play as well as significant stretches of below expectations.

Specific to Frost, Briere said, "You talk about centermen being hard to find [in trades or free agency], we have to be careful about a guy like Morgan Frost."

On the one hand, Frost has been a chronic slow starter over the last three seasons for the first one-third to one-half of the campaign. On the other hand, the player has annually come on strong over the final one-half to two-thirds of the season to rank at (2022-23) or near (2003-24 and the last 27 games of the current season) the team in scoring during that portion of the season.

"Frosty, very similar to last year, he's a player that -- the deeper it gets into the season -- he seems to feel better and more comfortable. We have to find a way to get him to be ready in the first 20, 25 games of the season..... I like how he's played in the last 15, 20 games. He's taken a step forward, and it's been good to see."

Cates has always been a defensively sound player. Since late November, he has found a strong groove offensively, too. Briere said on Tuesday that the entire line of Cates and wingers Foerster and Bobby Brink have been momentum generators and stabilizers for the club in the last two months.

Briere spoke prior to Tuesday's game, where Farabee netted a goal in regulation and assisted on the game-winner in overtime to seal a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. During his press conference, Briere opined that the player has started trending back in a positive direction after a three-game stint as a healthy scratch.

"He's back to making a lot of subtle little plays that you don't always see in a game. He was doing that early in the season, even though he wasn't getting rewarded with points as much as he would have liked. Again, we have to be very careful with a 24-year-old that is still growing and learning the game," Briere said.

Briere said that the team will consider trade possibilities -- particularly for centers -- that he feels could upgrade the top end of the lineup and/or the depth at the NHL level. However, most teams in today's NHL hoard their centers and there aren't many realistic deals to be had, according to the general manager.

4. Laughton and Ristolainen: No rush to trade

Briere said that the trade availability of veteran left wing/center swingman Scott Laughton and defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen has drawn inquiries from teams that are looking to stock up for a playoff run. While the GM would not rule out a trade if a sufficiently tempting offer came along, Briere said that he's not directly shopping either player.

"Scotty still has another year on his contract," Briere said of Laughton. "He's not a rental. He's important to the dressing room and I think his play has really kicked in the last 20 games."

Briere made a similar comment on Ristolainen, who is signed through the 2026-27 season.

"There's no rush to trade him. We finally have him healthy [after an injury-plagued 2023-24 season that started late and later ended early due to a ruptured triceps]. He's playing extremely well," Briere said.

Nevertheless, Briere said that he's not closed off to the idea of trading veterans or players in their mid-20s. He won't make a trade for the sake of appeasing desires to make moves, but said he wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger if there's a move he feels makes sense. The GM added that is also doesn't matter to him if the proposal was initiated by the Flyers themselves or suggested by the trade partner.

"I've had a lot of different conversations around the league," Briere said. "That's what happened last year, too, [resulting in the Sean Walker trade to Colorado, most notably]. We're always listening. If something makes too much sense for the future of the organization, we're going to take it."

The Eastern Conference wildcard race is very tightly packed and the Flyers are among the slew of clubs currently on the bubble of making or missing the playoffs. However, Briere said that the team is not currently in the market to add rental players. His focus remains beyond the current season as it was last year.