Interim GM Briere's First Presser: 5 Takeaways

The Flyers' new interim general manager, Daniel Briere, held an early morning press conference on Sunday via Zoom with members of the local and national media. It wasn't a traditional introductory presser.

Briere has already been working in the Flyers front office since 2015 and served as special assistant to now-former general manager Chuck Fletcher from Feb. 2022 until his hiring as interim GM on March 10. Additionally,he's someone who needed no introduction to Flyers' fans as a prominent former player on the team from the 2007-08 to 2012-13 seasons and a longtime Delaware Valley resident.
As such, after making an opening statement in which he expressed his gratitude for the opportunity, individually gave thanks to Fletcher and Dave Scott, and discussed how much the Flyers organization and the Philadelphia area in general mean to him and his children, Briere got right down to business.
3/12 Press Conference: Daniel Briere
The most pertinent and pressing questions all boiled down to "What comes next?" Briere did not deny that there's a lengthy process ahead in getting the hockey operations side of the organization on track and establishing lasting improvements on the ice to eventually get the team back to contender status. It's impossible to forecast at present exactly how long that will take.
"I don't think this is a quick fix," Briere said. "That's my belief and that's why I'm not afraid to use the word rebuild."
Here are five key takeaways from the press conference.
1. Briere prefers the GM job to Team President role.
As part of Friday's announcement that Fletcher was being dismissed and Briere promoted, the Flyers organization announced that the dual role that Fletcher held as general manager and club president in charge of hockey operations would be separated into two separate jobs. Temporarily, Briere will steward the tasks of the presidency as well as holding the interim GM role.
On Sunday, Briere was asked which role he prefers, given his druthers. Unsurprisingly, Briere made it very clear that the general manager role is where his focus and interests are presently centered.
Before further restructuring takes place on the hockey operations side and Briere turns his undivided attention to offseason roster moves, hiring a new team president is a vital priority for the organization. Until that happens, Briere will primarily be involved in doing player and staff evaluations. Even with an interim tag, he believes that he's empowered as GM to make player and staff-related decisions as he sees fit. However, Briere said he won't rush into those.
"At this time, it's not about rocking the boat. It's more about evaluating everybody that's in place, evaluating our players, finishing the season strong and being a help to the players and staff and everybody around me. Try to get everything on track finishing off. I'm not looking to change anything drastically right at this moment. I've had this job for 48 hours. It's not going to happen overnight. This is going to be a long process. Just like we've talked about doing things the right way, I think it applies also with everybody on the staff, not just the players," Briere said.
Once there is a team president hired, other decisions will start falling in place in conjunction with Briere. Briere was asked, in his mind, whether it is important for the team president to be someone with lengthy front office experience in the NHL since he's a first-time NHL general manager.
"I think there's many ways to go about that. That would be more of a question for Dave Scott and Dan Hilferty. I don't want to put words in their mouth that whatever they decide. It might be someone that can help in a day-to-day decision, or maybe it's someone else that we find in a different role. I'm not sure. That would be more of a question for them," Briere said.
2. Briere anticipates Brent Flahr staying on as AGM
Briere said on Sunday that all positions on the hockey operations side of the organization -- job holders, job descriptions, etc. -- will be up for review in the weeks and months to come. However, Briere did give a full endorsement to assistant general manager Brent Flahr staying on in the post.
"That's my expectation. I have a great relationship with Brent. He's been tremendous. He's included me on everything since I started working with Chuck. I have a lot of confidence in Brent. You look at his track record at the Draft. It's pretty impressive. So, yeah, I would say so," Briere said.
Flahr has long been associated with Fletcher, serving under Fletcher with both the Minnesota Wild and the Flyers as the assistant NHL GM, primary overseer of all amateur scouting and NHL Entry Draft management, AHL farm team general manager and an influential voice in development assessment.
Briere was not asked about -- nor did he comment -- specifically on other positions on the hockey operations side including the director of player personnel (Alyn McCauley's role), the various amateur and pro scouts, player development coaching, etc. A year ago, at Fletcher's behest and with Briere's involvement, the Flyers significantly increased the resources devoted to player development. The 2022-23 season has seen some progress among prospect-aged talent with the Phantoms and in other leagues. Briere was asked to evaluate where things stand 13 months later. Has the improvement rate over the past year been satisfactory?
"That's a good question. Something we're going to evaluate deeper. At the same time, I think Lappy [Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere] has done a great job preparing these guys when they were called up. Like you mentioned, they've done a really good job coming up and helping. You look in the case of Cam York, I remember at the beginning of the year when we sent his down, you would have thought that was the end of his career. Even though it wasn't easy for him, it was a tough time. He battled through. I was really impressed on how he got through that and how Lappy's staff was able to get him back on track, work with him, and how good he's been since he got called up. He's playing heavy minutes for us in our top four and on the power play. It's been an impressive process, so it's got to be part of the evaluation," Briere said.
At the NHL level, it's a lock that John Tortorella will stay on as head coach for 2022-23. Briere was involved in the hiring process last off-season.
"I think what really was striking for me was how he was going to rebuild the culture over here. Looking at the last couple years, it was tough to watch at times. I felt we were an easy team to play against. You don't realize how important culture is until you lose it. We interviewed a lot of great candidates, guys that were probably great coaches and could have done the job. In my mind, I felt John Tortorella was the perfect guy at this time to get us back on track and I really feel we've seen this," Briere said.
"We've seen it this year. You look at not just the way we play, but talking also to players around the league, executives around the league, and they all say the same thing: The Flyers are tough to face. They might not have the most talent at this point. They might be a little inexperienced at this point. But man, it's tough to face you guys. We've heard that constantly over the year. I've been really proud of the players and our coaching staff, the way they enforce that and how tough they've made us to face the season.
"I think it was the right step in the process. The mentality is different around here, from what I've seen from the previous two years. It's really exciting. I think and I still believe that John was the perfect decision at this time for us."
Briere was also asked directly about the future of the various senior advisors in the organization which includes franchise icon Bob Clarke, Paul Holmgren, Bill Barber, Dean Lombardi and Mike O'Connell (senior advisor on player development).
"I don't know at this point. I am not sure. What I can tell you is I have a lot of respect for, I assume you're talking about Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, and Paul Holmgren. I have a lot of respect for those guys for what they've accomplished in their career, both on and off the ice. Lots of respect," Briere said.
"I've been in this position for 48 hours. I've had a quick chat with them. At this point, that's all that's happened. We'll see moving forward with what happens there."
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3. "It's a rebuild not a fire sale."
This was a point of emphasis several times for Briere during his press conference on Sunday: While he doesn't consider any player on the roster -- whether veteran or younger player -- to be untouchable depending on the deal, he's not going to tear the roster down to the studs for the sake of a total reset. He did not want to get into discussing individual players who might be moved out in the offseason -- there were several much-rumored names prior to the NHL trade deadline, including Kevin Hayes, Ivan Provorov and/or Travis Sanheim -- but said the team will consider a variety of possibilities.
One key consideration: Does the timeline for a rebuild coincide with the players' current ages, length of contract term,etc.? There are also salary cap considerations for the long-term because the Flyers presently have a lot of term and cap space allotted to veterans and/or players dealing with long-term injuries. There will be some limits on who is or is not potentially moveable, the desirability of doing so from hockey/cap perspectives.
In his next-to-last press conference as Flyers general manager (three days before the NHL trade deadline), Chuck Fletcher identified a group of young players whom he felt have now established themselves as bonafide NHL players and still have youth on their side with further growth potential in their NHL productivity. Twice, Fletcher mentioned the likes of Owen Tippett, Noah Cates, Joel Farabee,, York and Morgan Frost meeting those criteria. Fletcher said at the time that his plan was to move forward with these players as part of the NHL roster plan. Fletcher said he was optimistic that another young player or two (such as Elliot Desnoyers, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, defenseman Ronnie Attard or 2022 first-round pick Cutter Gauthier) might be ready to emerge as NHL regular starters and contributors in 2022-23.
Briere was asked on Sunday if he shared Fletcher's analysis of the under-25 group on the current roster.
"Well, what I would say to that is our young guys have a lot of value to us. At the same time, we're not in the position to not listen to anyone. The young guys are not the guys that we would be shopping, obviously. Yes, I have been really impressed in the development of the guys that you've mentioned under John Tortorella. That's the really exciting part for me. Seeing some of the young guys take a step this year. In the last few days seeing also guys like Elliot Desnoyers and Tyson Foerster come up and hold their own. Gives us a lot of hope moving forward. They're all going to be part of the evaluating process. As you've seen, there's no one that's untouchable anywhere. If Wayne Gretzky can be traded, anyone can. But obviously, some players have more value than others and I'm not going to deny that," Briere said.
4; Briere unconcerned by "interim" tag.
The title of interim general manager or interim head coach sometimes entails being essentially a temporary caretaker for the position. Other times, it represents a full-fledged audition for a job. In Briere's case, the interim title may be simply part of the front end of the process of a top-to-bottom organizational evaluation before the "interim" tag is removed.
"I think it's the right thing to do. I'm okay with it. I don't have a problem with the interim tag. I like that Dave and his staff are going to take the proper time to evaluate who should be full time in that position," Briere said.
" You know, I see myself staying here and being part of the future. I hope they believe in me as well. It feels that way. I honestly don't have a problem with the tag. We'll see what happens next. Like I said, I'm honored to be here and to be in this position. I want to do everything possible to help put this franchise on the right track at this point."
Note: The last time the Flyers had an interim GM it was Holmgren. When Clarke resigned as general manager early in the 2006-07 season, Holmgren was moved up from assistant general manager to interim GM.
Within a year, Holmgren had the interim tag removed after he laid the groundwork for a dramatic one-season turnaround from the worst record in the NHL (and the worst season in franchise history) in 2006-07 to a run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2007-08. As a player, Briere was a big part of the turnover.
The current Flyers are not in position to turn things around as rapidly as the 2007-08 version of the club. There's no latter-day equivalent of Briere, Kimmo Timonen or Scort Hartnell likely to be added. There's no Peter Forsberg equivalent to trade as a rental for a steep return. There's likely no 2020s version in the offing to deal veteran defenseman such as Alexei Zhitnik for young defenseman like Braydon Coburn.
While the situation is different, Briere said on Sunday that he's studied general managers over the years -- dating back to his own playing days -- and he believes that he's absorbed key lessons in what's entailed in a succesful roster build or rebuild.
"I probably started doing that a little deeper when I got to Buffalo, the way the Darcy Regier kind of built a young team that went to a couple back-to-back Conference Finals. I came here, learned a lot under Paul Holmgren as well, where we were a lot closer, maybe when I arrived to winning the Stanley Cup, but it was also coming off a year where we finished last, I believe, the year before I got here, and how he was able to rebuild that team. I went to Montreal with Marc Bergevin where he also had to rebuild the character of his team. In the year that I was there, I was able to take a team to the Conference Final as well and then to Joe Sakic in Colorado. I got there early in the process; they were just the latest Stanley Cup Champions," Briere said.
"I was there early in the process when that rebuild was being made. Now I like to think that I was able to help some of the young guys because I was at the end of my career. More of in leadership role, little less responsibilities on the ice. I felt that I was there more for leadership, but I also saw how things were being built at that time. Since then, I've tried to follow how teams were building their teams."
5, Briere lacks nothing for self-confidence.
For good reason, Briere is known around the hockey world and among fans as one of the friendliest and classiest gentlemen in the sport. He's one of the nicest human beings in a sport known for such individuals. That's strictly off the ice, however.
As a player, Briere was ultra-competitive and wasn't about to let anyone bully him despite Briere often being the smallest player on the ice for either team. As a means of survival, Briere combined his skill and hockey sense with a steely killer instinct and the willingness to do whatever he needed to in order to create operating space for himself on the ice. Whatever he lacked in size, Briere made up for in self-belief, work ethic and a team-first outlook.
Only time will tell whether Briere's tenure as Flyers GM is a success.He has a massive undertaking ahead of him.
However, one thing that was immediately evident at his first press conference was that Briere's confidence in his own abilities -- not cockiness but a little bit of swagger -- is still very much part of his makeup.
"Oh, there's no doubt in my mind that I can do the job. I'm going to have some great people around me as well. It's not something that I'm going to do alone. I was never a player that worked alone. I always believed in team first, team mentality first, and it's going to be the same approach on this side. I love working with people and it's going to be the same way moving forward now," Briere said.