TAMPA, Fla. — Sitting in a hotel conference room just after the trade deadline had closed, Danny Brière wouldn’t confirm if he had a checklist heading into the week.
But if he did, when time expired at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, the first-year general manager had checked off a lot of boxes.
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Sign or trade guys who could walk out the door come July 1. Check. Answer all phone calls and test the market. Check. Make smart hockey trades. Check. Provide a little reward to the team for surpassing expectations. Check. And do not under any circ*mstances trade away the future. Double check.
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If it did exist, that piece of paper with the to-do list should be crumbled up and tossed in the trash with a celebratory hook shot. Mission accomplished.
Brière’s trade deadline moving and shaking began on Wednesday as he decided which blueliner should be moved before they could hit unrestricted free agency on July 1. In the end, it was Sean Walker who was sent west and Nick Seeler who was signed to an extension.
Although the Flyers split up one of, if not their strongest defensive pairing, who stayed and who went was logical. Seeler, the cheaper and less valuable of the two on the trading block, is a catalyst by sacrificing his body for his teammates and playing with a snarl. Walker, who is likely due a big raise to around $5 million a year, snagged the Orange and Black the first-round pick they wanted (in 2025), giving them five picks in the top 32 over the next three years.
So, when you’re talking about rebuilding and changing the culture — add two checkmarks there for a young GM who stuck to his guns in landing a first-rounder, and also locked in a guy who brings the good vibes on and off the ice.
“The culture is, we felt, the first thing that needed to change around here,” Brière said. “I didn’t like how our team was playing the last few years. We were a team that was easy to play against and I think the first step in that change was John Tortorella [who] brought an identity to our team, [and] forced our players to play a certain way to make it tough to face.
“... I have to give our coaches and our players a lot of credit for the way they’ve played. I’ve said it many times, we didn’t expect to be where we are at this stage of the season. We hoped to play meaningful games, but to be inside that playoff bubble, third in our division, that’s probably above what we expected.
“So that’s even more exciting, it’s all coming together. But it doesn’t change at the end of the day what we’re trying to do with having an outlook towards the future, making sure that it’s sustainable for years to come and not just one year.”
This is where making smart hockey trades — or not making a certain one — sends a strong message. Veteran forward Scott Laughton was long rumored to be on the trading block but Brière confirmed that he had not been actively shopping his former teammate. He said he wasn’t going to trade a key piece to his squad, a guy his teammates asked to keep around for the stretch run, for fair value. Instead, he said shrewdly, it would have to be an overpay for the centerman who is a strong 200-foot player, has recently refound his offensive game, and brings critical leadership and intangibles to the Flyers.
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“It’s the way, we have a term in French that I can’t seem to get, he brings people together. Rassembler. He’s someone that brings people together,” Brière said of Laughton. “It would have been scary to let a guy go like that, especially in the situation that we’re in that we’re trying to make the playoffs.”
The only miscue for the GM may have been the nonacquisition of a veteran backup for goaltender Sam Ersson. But Brière did send winger Wade Allison, whose route to the NHL was blocked and who was floundering in Lehigh Valley, to Nashville for an intriguing player with some past playoff success. Is 26-year-old Denis Gurianov necessarily the reward for where the team is now? No. He’s struggled the last few seasons to find his game after a strong start to his career in Dallas. But the former first-rounder adds speed, size (6-foot-3) on the wing, and experience — including a Conference finals-clinching-goal in 2020 — to the forward group. Gurianov is a low-cost acquisition by Brière of a toolsy player with pedigree, who if it all breaks right, could pay dividends as a reclamation project à la Seeler and Walker.
And if there was one small box that needed to be checked on Friday, per the GM, it was adding veteran depth to the blue line. Check that one off with the acquisition of rugged 35-year-old Erik Johnson for a fourth-rounder. And before everyone screams about trading a future asset, the Flyers still have 10 picks in 2024, not to mention, Dobber Prospects ran a study in 2020 that reported only 20% of fourth-round picks between 2000 and 2009 made the NHL. So to get a guy who not only brings 970 career games of experience but also has one thing no one in the Flyers locker room has, a Stanley Cup ring, for a player who maybe has a low chance of making the NHL, checkmate.
