VOORHEES, N.J. \u2013 In Daniel Briere\u2019s opening statement at his end-of-season press conference Thursday, the Flyers\u2019 general manager said he was extremely gratified not only by the way his team played but by the way the fan base supported them.<\/p>\n
The Flyers\u2019 late push to the Stanley Cup playoffs and unexpected first-round win over Pittsburgh raised the spirits of everyone in the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, how impressed and proud I was of our players and coaching staff,\u201d Briere said at the Flyers Training Center. \u201cThey never quit, this team has been known the last few years as a team that\u2019s relentless about never quitting. And they showed that again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Briere liked the way his team dug in after the Winter Olympic break, winning 18 of 25 games to make the playoffs in the next-to-last game of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve all heard that number, 3.8 percent (chance of making the playoffs),\u201d Briere said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty amazing what they were able to do and keep believing in themselves and keep pushing forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Flyers finished last in the Metropolitan Division in the 2024-25 season and somehow made it all the way back to the third spot this year. It\u2019s quite an improvement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to acknowledge that, how amazing it was,\u201d Briere said. \u201cThe push that they made and the players and the coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now the goal is to keep going to the playoffs on a yearly basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to lower expectations,\u201d Briere said . \u201cThe players want another taste of it. That was such a fun run. I think the guys want to experience that again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the Flyers made the postseason perhaps earlier than some expected, Briere has no plans to change his method of operation. There aren\u2019t any plans to make headline-grabbing trades or lucrative free-agent signings. He\u2019s doing it the old-fashioned way through the draft and player development.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the time we started (in May 2023), we said it was going to be a rebuild,\u201d Briere said. \u201cAnd we needed patience. I think we\u2019ve shown that\u2019s what we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean Briere won\u2019t go out of that conservative approach if there\u2019s an opportunity that will serve the Flyers best.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow if there\u2019s a chance to help improve the team and something that makes sense for the long run, yes we will jump on it,\u201d Briere said. \u201cBut as far as I\u2019m concerned, it\u2019s the same thing. We\u2019re still in the growth part of the rebuild. What has changed is the experience our guys have gotten. You can\u2019t buy experience for 19-, 20-, 21-year-olds. That is what I am really excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NHL salary cap for 2026-27 will go up by about $8 million and the Flyers are projected to be 10th in available space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good thing is, we\u2019re in a good spot as far as the salary cap,\u201d Briere said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of upside there. If there\u2019s an opportunity to jump on something to help us, it\u2019s my job to look at everything. But I don\u2019t feel that I\u2019m forced to make a move just to make a move because we\u2019ve made it into the playoffs this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sustainability is what Briere has been seeking all along.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve said it for a long time, wanted to build a team that would be here for a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cNot just to go for it for a year or two. That\u2019s still the same approach on my end.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what are the Flyers\u2019 biggest needs?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s changed much since last summer,\u201d Briere said. \u201cLast summer we said goalie in that mix. I think we have to give credit to our goalies (Dan Vladar, Sam Ersson). They were excellent. We\u2019d probably like to improve everywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing the Flyers would like to get their hands on is a strong center who can help out at both ends of the rink, including the power play. Briere said that Trevor Zegras\u2019 move to center move helped, as did a similar switch by Denver Barkey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can improve on defense, we\u2019re going to look at that, too,\u201d the GM said. \u201cNothing much has changed other than the goaltending position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Can Vladar be the long-term solution at the goaltender position?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe blew away the expectations we had on him,\u201d Briere said. \u201cHe really took over, earned more starts. The way he played in the playoffs gives you confidence that he can be the answer here for a few more years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Briere also thinks Ersson can remain a good backup to Vladar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough start for Sam,\u201d Briere said. \u201cBut we also have to give him credit, the way he stuck with it. The way he found a way to bounce back to win some really big games.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VOORHEES, N.J. \u2013 In Daniel Briere\u2019s opening statement at his end-of-season press conference Thursday, the Flyers\u2019 general manager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,5095],"class_list":["post-576168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-flyers","tag-flyers","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-flyers","tag-philadelphiaflyers","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116582909446523341","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}