Danny Briere has his fingerprints all over this Philadelphia Flyers rebuild — he is the general manager, after all. The former fan favorite has received mixed reviews during his nearly three years at the helm, but he’s set out a clear plan and is following it thus far.
So far this season, the most noteworthy transaction was signing Christian Dvorak to an unnecessary extension.
After overpaying on a one-year deal to convince Dvorak to sign in Philadelphia, the Flyers then bid against themselves with a five-year deal to a 29-year-old having a career year. That has aged particularly poorly already, with the thought of having Dvorak as a piece to sell at the deadline in the back of our minds.
However, Briere has made at least one key move at every major juncture as general manager, setting the expectation that this deadline will be more of the same.
Briere’s bias for action is in action early
Shortly after taking over in 2023, Briere started tearing down a rotting roster. He shipped out Ivan Provorov and Kevin Hayes, acquiring future draft picks and even a few roster players in the process. He then signed a few veteran free agents in Ryan Poehling, Garnet Hathaway, and Marc Staal, and negotiated bridge deals with restricted free agents Noah Cates and Cam York.
It was a necessary offseason of change for Briere and the Flyers, and that was only the start.
In his first full season as GM, Briere locked up Owen Tippett with an eight-year deal and rewarded Poehling with a two-year extension as well. The Flyers were overperforming expectations due to John Tortorella getting blood from a stone, as well as Sean Walker, who was more or less a throw-in from the Kings in the Provorov trade that offseason.
Walker was a key part of the Flyers’ blue line, but Briere still dealt him at the deadline for a first-round pick, which was the asking price established for the defenseman. While it hurt the team’s playoff chances that season, trading away the veteran for a future asset was exactly what Briere needed to do.
The 2025 offseason was then highlighted by Matvei Michkov coming over to the Flyers a few years earlier than expected. Briere didn’t do much else, but he didn’t need to. He had already traded away what dead weight he could, while setting the table for more moves during Michkov’s rookie season.
Last season, the Flyers were clearly not a playoff team, and Briere made a few more deals to clear up roster and cap space. He dealt away Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost to Calgary, flipped Andrei Kuzmenko for a draft pick, and finally traded Scott Laughton for a great return of a first-round pick and Nikita Grebenkin, who has been a regular in the lineup this season.
It was then an offseason of key additions, with Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak, and Dan Vladar all coming to Philadelphia.
Flyers’ Briere needs a defining move of 2026 deadline
Briere’s first offseason had the Provorov and Hayes trades. He then got a first-round pick for Walker at the deadline and got Michkov to North America in the summer. The 2024-25 season was a lost one for the Flyers, but you’ll look back at it and remember the Frost-Farabee trade, as well as getting two future assets for Laughton. Of course, last offseason will be remembered as the summer of Zegras — with all due respect to Vladar.
But this season? The main headline in terms of transactions is prematurely signing Dvorak to a five-year extension.
Briere can’t let this season be The Dvorak Extension season; not when they’ve fallen out of the playoff picture and have a healthy Rasmus Ristolainen to sell — a Ristolainen who is coming off an impressive performance at the Olympics, earning him praise and a bronze medal to boot.
We’ve already seen similar defensemen get moved for second-round picks, with Tyler Myers garnering second- and fourth-round picks from Dallas.
The possible destinations for Ristolainen may be dwindling, but so is the number of right-handed defensemen available on the market. Briere and the Flyers need to take advantage of that and trade the hulking rearguard for some future assets, whether that be based around a first-round pick, prospect, young roster player, or some combination of the three.
Even if the price for Ristolainen isn’t met and the Flyers end up keeping him, they have a few pending free agents who may be able to fetch a high-mid-round pick after Cole Smith was dealt for a third-round pick and Michael McCarron for a second.
Grundstrom could be a nice piece to flip for a pick after acquiring him for essentially nothing. Moving out Deslauriers would at least open up a roster spot. The same goes for Noah Juulsen.
Briere doesn’t have to sell anyone at this deadline, but letting it pass him by will only add more pressure heading into the summer and increase apathy among a fanbase that is desperate for something to look forward to.
