Grading the Flyers: Danny Briere
by Geoff Detweiler on Jul 16, 2009 6:00 AM EDT
in Features
21 comments
[ Hockey Reference Player Page ]
| GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | TOI/G | PP/G | FO% | BkS | GvA | TkA | |
| 08/09 Regular Season | 29 | 11 | 14 | 25 | -1 | 26 | 15:39 | 3:22 | 46.2 | 6 | 16 | 8 |
| 08/09 Playoffs | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 8 | 16:41 | 4:11 | 52.4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
A lot of people have opinions about Danny Briere, and a lot of them start with either his injury history or his salary - usually both. The story has already been told, but the Flyers were desperate when they signed Briere and they paid market price. Too much? Maybe. It was a large contract they certainly understood would be a large chunk of their salary cap for the duration of his contract. Last year, they got burned by it as Briere only played in 29 games while he was in and out of the lineup due to groin injuries. But that doesn't mean the contract is forever a noose around their necks. While he was in the lineup, he did play well. Toward the end of the season, he began to click with Claude Giroux, creating many highlight-reel plays. In order for the Flyers to succeed next year, Briere needs to return to his old self.
What often gets lost in the griping about Briere is that he scored 25 points in 29 games. That .86 points per game ranked fourth on the team behind - who else - Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, and Simon Gagne. In terms of on ice efficiency, Briere was fourth in goals per 60 mins, third in points per 60 mins, and third in team goals for per 60 mins. Offensively, Briere's biggest problem was that he didn't play. Going into next year, if he continues to play on the third line - which is unlikely - the Flyers will likely get something similar out of Briere since he played against poor competition. His qualcomp rating was ahead of only Darroll Powe, Asham, and Riley Cote at -0.05. Having Giroux at -0.04, the two of them were able to embarrass lesser opponents. Briere is no Jeff Carter - who had his amazing season with worse teammates and against better competition - but his qualteam rating of 0.11 ranks below Richards, Scott Hartnell, and Gagne. If Briere moves up to a first or second line wing, he would drastically improve his teammates (Knuble led the team with a 0.33 qualteam rating and Joffrey Lupul came in second with a 0.26) and theoretically also improve his production. EIther way, the Flyers cannot lose. If they keep Briere with Giroux on a third line - balancing their top six forwards across three lines - he'll be slightly less than a point per game player. Move him up to Richards or Carter's line, and his linemates will be more than twice as good and lead to more opportunities. Briere can and should still make a large positive impact on this team, no matter where he plays.
There is obviously much room for improvement from 08-09 for Briere though. Besides staying healthy, Briere needs to cut down on his penalties (13 minors in 29 games), improve his turnover ratio, and increase his face-off percentage. None of these are glaring problems because Briere isn't likely to take many draws this year as a winger and his negatives did not suddenly get worse - he's always averaged 1 PIM per game played and he's never had a good turnover ratio. This isn't meant to make you optimistic, but rather to state that his weaknesses have always been his weaknesses - he's the same player he always was when healthy. What does need to change, however, is his goals against per 60 minutes. He averaged 2.92 last year, fourth worst on the team ahead of only Lasse Kukkonen, Ryan Parent, and Andreas Nodl. No one expects Briere to be Pavel Datsyuk or Joe Nieuwendyk, but he can't be giving up that many goals.
No matter where Stevens puts Briere next year, the key to his success will be his health. If he's healthy, he'll produce. For Danny, it's as simple as that.
Videos after the jump.
Up next in our Grading the Flyers series: Kimmo Timonen
0 recs |
21 comments
| Add comment
|
Email
Print
Comments
thumbs up to this article. all you hear about briere this offseason is “gosh i hope they dump his contract and pick up…well…anything else.” and if he has another season where he misses 50 games, then it’s hard to argue. but as it stands now, he’s been certainly disappointing, but i’m still holding onto hope that the major free agent that we signed two years ago will come to play. the 85+ point, shootout specialist, playmaking game-changer is still thriving within briere…hopefully. either way, this is probably a make or break season for him, especially when he gets significant time (including power play time) with a more experienced giroux, and/or the other stars of the team.
by eeeeee on Jul 16, 2009 8:30 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Giroux with Briere
Pairing them together is running away with it I am surprised as I seem them as almost the same player Briere with a little more offensive upside and Giroux slightly less offensive but better in his own zone. They are our most talent play making forwards while Gagne and Carter are our best goal scorers. Pairing Giroux with Gagne and Briere with Carter or vice versa depending on your preference would make more sense in my mind. We still haven’t seen the number of goals our team can score with both a healthy Briere and Gagne in the lineup for a full season.
by chrislanci on Jul 16, 2009 11:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I agree
I for one and very excited to see what a full season of Briere will look like. If you are to believe the Flyers last year then the medical staff was mis-diagnosing his nerve issue as a pulled groin. If so, I don’t blame him for a lost season, it happens but was unfortunate.
With a hammer like Pronger has I envision a lot of tap ins for Danny’s quick stick. He loves the position off the goalie’s right shoulder .
by boknows71 on Jul 16, 2009 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I’m with chris, I much prefer Giroux & Briere on separate lines. When you’ve only got 5 skaters on the ice at a time, it doesn’t pay to have two of them have the same skill set. You’re much better off when you pair your play-makers with your shooters instead. We’ll get more scoring chances overall if we spread them out, since they’ll have separate opportunities to create them.
by DragonGirl0583 on Jul 16, 2009 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Agreed
I liked what I saw when Briere played with Carter and Hartnell last year. The playmaker, the pure shooter and the power forward should be a good combo. Briere’s two-goal game against Buffalo in March comes to mind.
Giroux, Richards, and Gagne would be a great combo, too. All three of them play at both ends of the ice; all three can score, too. I’d imagine with Giroux’s and Richards’ passing abilities, this trio could cycle the puck down low very well.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
by mikefive on Jul 16, 2009 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Second that.
I’m a big fan of splitting up your scorers and passers. Also like the Giroux, Richards, Gagne line, especially after seeing Giroux and Gagne work together in the playoffs.
Broad Street Hockey -
Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Jul 16, 2009 3:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I’d like to see Briere with Richards. Richard’s defensive skills can wash out Briere’s defensive mediocrity.
by MarioD on Jul 16, 2009 12:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
You're right, but...
… the failed Briere-Richards-Gagne experiment at the beginning of last season comes to mind.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
by mikefive on Jul 16, 2009 2:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
another but...
If you move Briere down a line to Carter he won’t be matching up against opponents top line which will also wash out his defensive issues, which stem from his lack of size and the larger Carter and Hartnell will also help with that
by chrislanci on Jul 16, 2009 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
But the alternative is Giroux on the top line. As talented as he is, Claude also had a habit of attempting to puckhandle in his own zone through four guys as well as making some poor low-percentage passes in the O zone that led to odd-man rushes the other way.
Danny’s only okay at playing D, but he usually makes smart plays with the puck.
There’s a website that shows line production, but I can’t remember what it is. But in the first six games last season (then Briere got hurt) the players on that line put up the following numbers:
Briere – 2g, 4a
Gagne – 4g, 1a (in 5 games, he missed that 6th game before danny went out)
Richards – 4g, 1a
Now, I don’t know how many of these goals came when they were a unit, I think a few were SH. But I’m not sure why you’re calling it a “failed experiment”.
by MarioD on Jul 16, 2009 3:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Some more thoughts
Giroux is going to have to learn the nuances of the pro game regardless of his linemates. If he does make some mistakes like this – and he will – who better to back him up than Richards the Selke nominee and Gagne the two-way player? And who could be better linemates for Giroux’s “on-the-job” training than the captain and the longest-tenured Flyer? Just my opinion of course, but that’s where I’m coming from, at least in part.
I’ll have to look up that website and see how those numbers add up. Personally, I did not like how the Gagne-Richards-Briere line looked. They were flashy but got scored on too often. Maybe it could work given some time (along with Briere’s health and his getting used to playing right wing). But that line was never reunited, even after Briere came back for good. That could have been out of Stevens’ desire to allow Briere to ease back into the lineup and spread out the scoring (very likely) as opposed to his disdain for the Gagne-Richards-Briere line per se. But I don’t know. Maybe he’ll try it again this year. It just didn’t seem right to me. The defense was off and the three didn’t look comfortable together.
Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?
by mikefive on Jul 16, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Re: Giroux, I was responding to Chris’ comment about level of talent across the ice from him. And I think Giroux can learn just as well from Carter. I think Briere is more likely than Giroux to get caught deep in the zone, and Richards is more likely than Carter to get back quickly on D.
by MarioD on Jul 16, 2009 11:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
To clarify, I’m basing that last sentence on style of play. Briere likes to be behind the net, Carter likes to be below the dots. Giroux and Richards both seem to spend more time around the circles.
by MarioD on Jul 16, 2009 11:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
“As talented as he is, Claude also had a habit of attempting to puckhandle in his own zone through four guys as well as making some poor low-percentage passes in the O zone that led to odd-man rushes the other way.”
The first half of your statement is entirely accurate, but the second half may be pretty overstated. The fact is Giroux takes big chances relatively often, and he’s the only player on this team who actually succeeds when he does. I can remember probably fifty instances of Giroux trying to pass through at least two sticks, across ice in either the offensive or the neutral zone, and I can only remember a handful of instances where they got picked off, and even fewer where odd man rushes were generated (I mean, he was +10 on the third line with zero time on the PK).
As things stood at the end of last season, Giroux was bar-none the most talented player on the team, and I think he’s earned at least a few games on the top line. He may or may not be a top line forward for his career (pretty hard to tell after only 50 games played), but I think at this point it couldn’t hurt to take the chance.
by eeeeee on Jul 17, 2009 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Danny B
I’ve followed Briere since I went to college in Niagara Falls and watched him and Drury wipe the floor with opponents. I was so excited when he got signed to the Flyers, I have yet to see that spark he had in Buffalo, but, like everyone says, flashes of that brilliance. Hopefully this is the year! (better be, that damn jersey was expensive…)
by NoalB on Jul 17, 2009 10:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Just curious
Does “other” include say the Tampa Bay Lightning?
We are not normal. We are legends.
by NittanyAlum02 on Jul 17, 2009 12:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Haha
I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what people mean when voting that way.
Broad Street Hockey -
Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Jul 17, 2009 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Why I would like Giroux and Briere as linemates
Considering this team has lost two scoring wingers in the off season most want Briere and Giroux to take their respective places. I feel differently. The third and fourth lines on this team are going to be very weak offensively and the FLyers showed problems scoring and defending 5 on 5 last year. I think this team needs to try and cover up the lose of scoring depth by putting Birere and Giroux on the third line. They could always go in for the odd shift on the top lines, especially when the team needs quick offense or in the third period, and of course they will get powerplay time and PK time for Giroux. Giroux and Briere make huge match up problems for other teams and it help keep the Flyers scoring spread out. Most people on this sight seem to be forgetting that Danny Briere is not just a play maker he is also a great shooter. I have no doubt he could become the Scorer on a line with Giroux. Claude is also more physical than Danny so there is another difference between the two. throw Asham on the other wing and there you have a big body who showed some chemistry with Claude.
by tmurder on Jul 18, 2009 2:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Great point – and a reminder why we Flyers fans have so much to be excited for this upcoming season. Even with the loss of Lupul and Knuble, we are still one of the deepest and most talented teams in the NHL. God damn I wish it was October.
by SanDiegoScraps on Jul 18, 2009 11:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I 100% agree with you that Danny can shoot very well, and for that matter, so can Giroux. My only trouble with Danny becoming “the scorer” on a line is that his first instinct seems to be to pass, rather than to shoot. Giroux can fall into that pattern of behavior too, and you risk a situation where they pass back and forth too much and no shot gets taken. I’ve seen it happen to them a few times before, and it’s hard to ask somebody to behave differently than what appears to be their natural instinct.
by DragonGirl0583 on Jul 20, 2009 8:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I am new...(Long Post)
I’m new to the broadstreet hockey website communitry…I am excited about the upcoming season…and have been doing my own analysis of the team…
In doing so I’ve came across this site and I like these grade reports you are doing…
before I put in my own 2 sense on the topic above, what does “Qualteam Ratio” refer to?
Anyway it’s unfortunate Danny had an injury plagued season last year……but, so far I think the Flyers have made a good choice with Danny…….he was brought in to add offense and improve the fortunes of the team…and both of those things happened…I mean the team went from dead last in the league to the conference finals and Briere played a major role…he scored 40 goals in his first season (31 regular season and 9 in the post-season).
Now last year was injury plagued for Danny, and the Flyers didn’t improve on the previous season, being that they lost in the first round of the post-season.
Now I know the Flyers have experimented playing him at Right Wing….but Danny is a Centermen…the team was 18th in the league in Face-off percentage in the 2008-09 campaign…winning face-offs is important to winning hockey games…in his first season here, Danny was around 50% with his face-offs, it was second on the team among centermen to Jim Dowd…I think returning Briere to center would help the team…even if it’s on a third line against weaker competition….(that is a good thing to be able to create mismatches)
Now every one is talking Claude Giroux……but, I think Briere needs to be on a line with Gagne…in the 2007-08 season, I think people forget just how productive Gagne and Briere were together….because Gagne was the one injured for much of the season. Unfortunately with the loss of Knuble, (we cannot have the K-B-G line anymore)….the Flyers would need a “Power Forward” at Right Wing to place with Gagne and Briere. Pairing up with Gagne, I think will aid Briere’s plus/minus..Briere is poor here over the course of his career, but Gagne is just outstanding here……it would be interesting to see what the two could do if both could stay healthy for an entire season.
I think Giroux, being inexperienced, would be better off playing on a line with Richards…cause I just think Richards can play with anyone and make them better.
Briere is also a power play weapon as well as a weapon on the shoot out.
Anyway, what y’all think?
by FlyersGoalies1and27 on Aug 9, 2009 4:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Join the community and dive in!
Secondary Sidebar
Related FanPosts on Broad Street Hockey
Related FanShots on Broad Street Hockey
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Atlantic Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Jersey
|
57 | 36 | 19 | 2 | 74 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
59 | 35 | 22 | 2 | 72 |
|
Philadelphia
|
56 | 28 | 25 | 3 | 59 |
|
New York Rangers
|
59 | 26 | 26 | 7 | 59 |
|
New York Islanders
|
58 | 23 | 27 | 8 | 54 |
(updated 2.8.2010 at 8:30 AM EST)
Flyers Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
@
New Jersey
|
Wed 02/10 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
Montreal
|
Fri 02/12 | 6:00 PM EST |
|
@
Montreal
|
Sat 02/13 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
@
Tampa Bay
|
Tue 03/02 | 7:30 PM EST |
|
@
Florida
|
Wed 03/03 | 7:30 PM EST |
Last 5 Games
|
New Jersey
|
Mon 02/08 | U 3 - 2 |
|
@
Minnesota
|
Sat 02/06 | L 1 - 2 |
|
@
Edmonton
|
Wed 02/03 | L 0 - 1 |
|
@
Calgary
|
Mon 02/01 | W 3 - 0 |
|
New York Islanders
|
Sat 01/30 | W 2 - 1 |
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
