5 Takeaways from Danny Briere’s free agency press conference

The Philadelphia Flyers were one of the busier teams when free agency opened on Tuesday.

The Flyers nearly immediately made a smaller move to sign depth defenseman Noah Juulsen when news rolled in that veteran center Christian Dvorak would be joining the team on a one-year deal.

It wasn\'t long before Dan Vladar was signed to be a part of the goalie tandem with Sam Ersson, and a few more depth signings trickled in with Dennis Gilbert and Lane Pederson.

Flyers general manager Danny Briere met with the media later Tuesday afternoon to explain the team\'s thought process on those signings, internal competitions, and more.

\'Term was way more important than anything else\'

The Flyers handed out five contracts on Tuesday that combined for a total of six years. Daniel Vladar was the only player to sign a two-year contract, while Christian Dvorak, Noah Juulsen, Lane Pederson, and Dennis Gilbert all inked to one-year deals.

Juulsen and Gilbert are both depth signings on the blue line with some size, but shouldn\'t exactly play top-four minutes or be in a position to demand a longer-term deal. Pederson spent the last two seasons in the AHL, too.

Then there\'s Dvorak.

In a vacuum, $5.4 million for Dvorak is an overpay. Even being a defensive center, a player with a career high of 38 points isn\'t worth that much.

However, as Briere stressed, the Flyers were willing to give Dvorak a little more money for a one-year deal rather than a two-year deal with a smaller cap hit.

\"Sometimes, you got to give in somewhere to those types of players to come in,\" he explained. \"We know the salaries were very competitive, but where it helps us is it keeps the flexibility moving forward in our favor.\"

And that\'s exactly what the Flyers should be doing right now: leaving as much cap room open as possible for 2026 and beyond.

Vladar wanted to compete in Philadelphia

The first thing Briere said when asked about Vladar is that he wanted to come to Philadelphia. He mentioned that while some goalies were looking for deals of three years or longer, Vladar saw an opportunity to come in and win a job with the Flyers.

\"He wanted to come in and compete in Philadelphia, so we jumped on it. So, for us, the most important thing, ideally, is we’re looking for a one-year deal,\" Briere said. \"But we realized to get some help, we needed to step it up a little bit. But when he told us he wanted to come, we jumped on it.\"

Vladar played a career-high 30 games last year behind rookie netminder Dustin Wolf in Calgary. The veteran goalie probably expected to get a larger share of the net, but Wolf didn\'t hit many rookie road bumps and shouldered the load for the Flames in a playoff race.

It remains to be seen how the netminder will fare with a higher workload, but a solid backup like Vladar will hopefully help Ersson settle into a working tandem for the Flyers.

Briere wants there to be a competition for the goalie position, knowing that a team needs three or four \'tendies throughout the season nowadays, and Vladar is here for it.

Familiar faces for Rick Tocchet

Over half of the players who signed in Philadelphia on July 1 had previously played for the Flyers\' new coach.

Dvorak started his career with five seasons in Arizona, playing for Tocchet from his sophomore season in 2017 through the shortened 2020-21 season. The young Dvorak was trusted to be Tocchet\'s defensive center, and it\'s safe to assume that he\'ll take similar responsibilities once again in Philadelphia.

Briere relayed that Tocchet \"loves\" Dvorak\'s overall game, saying that he\'s a player who isn\'t going to hurt you defensively and you can rely on him to play against any lines. The Flyers already have Sean Couturier and Noah Cates, who have similar qualities, so Briere noted that it\'ll make line matchups easier for Tocchet.

Juulsen has fresher ties with Tocchet as the two were in Vancouver together for the coach\'s entire tenure. He played 35 games last season, averaging 16:17 per contest with zero points. The right-handed shot will likely provide some depth behind the injured Rasmus Ristolainen as a big body with experience at the NHL level -- something the Flyers didn\'t necessarily have.

\"We talked in the past about how we were a little small on defense. We wanted to bring them a little bit of size,\" Briere said, once again stressing the importance of one-year deals. \"We wanted to make sure we don’t block our young guys past next year. That was really important to us. But the fact they bring size and grit is important also.\"

Pederson should spend the entire season in the AHL, although he could get a game here or there if the Flyers are big hard by the injury bug, but he\'s another player with Tocchet ties. He made his NHL debut and played 15 games with the Coyotes in the 2020-21 season. He then joined the Canucks organization in 2022, splitting time between the NHL and AHL, but only played one game for Tocchet before he was waived.

These players aren\'t superstars, but it shows that Tocchet instills something in players, and those guys want to come back to play for him.

Dvorak doesn\'t block Luchanko

Jett Luchanko impressed in training camp last year and made the Flyers opening night roster, playing in four games before returning to the Guelph Storm in the OHL. But he got a taste of the AHL after his junior season ended, and he once again looked like he belonged with nine points (all assists) in 16 games in the regular season and playoffs combined.

The Flyers now have Couturier, Cates, Zegras, and Dvorak as potential center options, along with guys like Karsen Dorwart and Rodrigo Abols if their hand is forced. But that doesn\'t mean there isn\'t room for the teenage pivot.

\"No,\" Briere replied when asked if Dvorak would block Luchanko. \"Luchanko is going to have to earn it. It’s not like we have him slotted in and giving him a spot. He’s going to have to earn it.

\"We’re going to have to see how training camp goes for him. But the way he played last year at camp and early in the season, if he keeps improving. And also how he played in the playoffs and down the stretch in Lehigh Valley was really impressive. So hopefully he keeps that streak going and could hopefully end up on the team.\"

If Luchanko does impress again in training camp, they have options to move guys like Zegras or Cates to the wing.

\"It’s a lot easier to move a center to the wing than the other way around,\" Briere concluded. \"I’m not worried about that.\"

Martone could fill in for Foerster

Briere clarified the status of Tyson Foerster, who there were some worrying reports about prior to the press conference.

\"He had an injury at the World Championship that wasn’t supposed to be anything really serious. He came back here and there’s some infection that set in to the elbow and then it just got worse,\" Briere explaiend. \"So he came and saw our doctors and decided they had to go in and remove the infection.\"

He mentioned that the Flyers are still waiting for some tests to come back before they re-evaluate the winger and his timeline for recovery.

If Foerster is to miss time, the Flyers are comfortable going with some of their internal options to fill his spot on the roster. That includes sixth overall pick Porter Martone.

\"We have some young guys. Maybe if he does have to miss early in the season, maybe Alex Bump, maybe Porter Martone, Kaplan played at the end of the year for us,\" Briere said. \"There’s other guys who could perform who maybe they get a look early in the season if they have a good camp. We didn’t feel we could spend his money not knowing how long he could be out, if he’s going to be out.\"

It certainly would be interesting if Martone plays well enough in training camp to earn a roster spot. Of course, there are also guys like Nikita Grebenkin and potentially Maxim Shabonov who could push for a spot in the lineup as well.

But Martone played with Foerster, Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, and the rest of Team Canada at the Men\'s World Championship in May. He was able to hold his own there, and perhaps it\'d be worth it for him to stick around at the NHL level if that\'s how the deck falls.

Talking Points