Briere dives headfirst into Flyers job at NHL GM meetings

MANALAPAN, Fla. -- Until Daniel Briere became interim general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, he was unaware the NHL General Managers meetings were coming up, let alone that he'd be attending.

"It was like, 'All right, I've got to go down to Florida,'" Briere said Tuesday.
It's been a whirlwind since Briere replaced Chuck Fletcher, and he said he needs to spend more time around the team to get to know the personnel better.
But spending his fourth, fifth and sixth days on the job at the GM meetings Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday should prove valuable, from sitting with his 31 colleagues in a ballroom to competing with a couple of them on the pickleball court.
"It makes my job a little easier," Briere said. "I get to see them face to face instead of trying to get on the phone with all the guys one by one. It was, in the end, kind of good timing."

Briere had 696 points (307 goals, 389 assists) in 973 NHL games as a center for the Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche from 1998-2015. The 45-year-old looks like he could still play.
But he has prepared for this moment for a long time. He studied GMs while he was a player, and he served as president of Maine of the ECHL from June 2017 to February 2022, when he became special assistant to Fletcher.
"I know some people have looked at me and said, 'Why are you going down to the ECHL?'" Briere said. "And I'm so thankful that I did."
Briere said he learned how to manage personnel in the ECHL. He wasn't an ex-player who expected to land a coveted role because of his background.
"I think it's going to help me moving forward in this job now," Briere said. "But mostly I wanted to show people that I wasn't afraid of the work, and I was willing to put in the time to prove that I could do whatever job is expected of me."
Briere's fellow GMs welcomed him to the fraternity immediately after the Flyers made the announcement.
"I'm sure he's probably heard from every GM at this point, even before he got here," Tampa Bay Lightning GM Julien BriseBois said. "I know I texted him. I'm sure others did too.
"He's got a really good management group there too that he can rely on. He's got a wealth of experience in this game, so he knows a lot of people. I'm sure he's got a really good idea of what he wants to do."
NHL senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell formally welcomed Briere when the GM meetings opened Monday, as he does for each rookie who makes his GM meetings debut.
Briere said he was nervous walking into the room the first time, and he was curious and quiet for his initial sessions.
"Eventually, I'll probably be a little bit more vocal," he said. "But for these first ones, it was more about learning."
He said it helped that he'd played with New York Rangers GM Chris Drury and San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier with the Sabres, and that he'd had a chance to meet several of the other GMs before.
Several GMs offered help if he needs it.
"It's funny," Briere said. "We're all super competitive when it comes to the games, but I think the guys all realize there's not a lot of us in those positions. It's a lot of pressure. So they were really willing to help out if something comes up. So very, very appreciative of that."

After four hours of discussing NHL issues Monday, Briere met BriseBois, Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen and NHL senior vice president of player safety George Parros on the pickleball court.
Not only had Briere never been an NHL general manager before, he had never played pickleball, and now he was going against a veteran like Kekalainen.
"Jarmo's the one seed," BriseBois said with a smile.
It went as you'd expect. Kekalainen was the best.
"He was very impressive," Briere said. "He moves well on the court."
But the pickleball wasn't really about the pickleball.
Briere already knew Parros, because they were teammates with the Canadiens. But he knew BriseBois only a little and Kekalainen even less.
"That's a big part of what these meetings are too," BriseBois said. "It gives us a chance to get to know each other a little bit better, develop relationships, develop trust. It makes all our jobs easier down the road."
Kekalainen said he sees potential in Briere as a pickleball player.
"I think he'll be playing a lot more, and he'll be a lot better quickly, because of course he's a great athlete," Kekalainen said. "You can see that, and he's still pretty young and in great shape. So I worry about guys like that. They get better in a hurry."
You might say something similar about Briere as a GM.