Briere’s most important off season move won’t be at the NHL level

It\'s the end of the 2024-25 NHL season, and the Flyers are finishing near the bottom of the standings. The rebuild marches on: the team has seven draft picks in the first two rounds of the 2025 draft, they have some RFA contracts to sign (perhaps a UFA as well?), maybe a trade or two, and they\'ve got a number of prospects beginning their professional hockey careers after aging out of juniors or finishing their time in the NCAA.

All of those things are important to the success of the rebuild, but that last point may be the most critical. Denver Barkey, Oliver Bonk, Carson Bjarnason, and Alex Ciernik are all--at the very least--joining the Lehigh Valley Phantoms next year. All four of those players were drafted in 2023, Danny Briere\'s first draft as general manager. At time of writing, Alex Bump and Devin Kaplan (both from the 2022 draft, where Briere was an assistant to the general manager) are likely Phantoms bound for at least the start of the 2025-26 season as well, and there\'s the possibility the Flyers sign another prospect to an ELC before day one of training camp, too.

Long have accusations of poor prospect development plagued the Flyers and, early in their tenure, Briere and Keith Jones recognized this issue. They turned over some staff , brought in a couple of \"professional best friends\" like Patrick Sharp, and made a genuine effort to revamp the organization\'s player development office, save one glaring omission: the Lehigh Valley Phantoms coaching staff.

That must change this summer. Ian Laperriere has been a good soldier for the organization, and the Flyers have tried to do right by him for years, but it\'s time for them to look in the mirror and ask themselves, \"Do we stick with the guy we know, or do we try and improve?\" Over four seasons as head coach, Laperriere has led the team to a 132-120-25 record, which is good for a pretty average .522 win percentage. They\'ve clinched a playoff berth this season, which means the team\'s going to the playoffs for three out of the four seasons Laperriere\'s been coaching. That may look good on the surface, but 23 of the AHL\'s 32 teams qualify for the playoffs each season--squeaking in as a low seed isn\'t all that impressive. Barring a surprise run this season, the furthest they\'ve gone in the playoffs under Laperriere is round two. It\'s time for a new voice in preparation for the next crop of prospects turning pro.

That new wave--Bonk, Barkey, Cierink, Bjarnason, and even Bump and Kaplan--could be considered Briere\'s \"babies,\" so to speak, as Briere either drafted them himself or, in the cases of Bump and Kaplan, was working closely with then-GM Chuck Fletcher when he made those selections. Entrusting their development to the current Phantoms coaching staff is a risk that could derail a lot of the good will Briere\'s built up in the two years he\'s been at the helm. Foregoing a tank means player development may be the organization\'s best shot at pulling this whole thing off, and we have not seen enough to believe this iteration of the Phantoms will successfully accomplish that feat.

A lot of focus is going to be on the Flyers\' head coaching job--justifiably so, as choosing the right person is critical to the overall success of the team, and selecting a head coach is an opportunity for Briere to really put a stamp on his time as GM. Why not go the distance and bring in a new coaching staff with the Phantoms, too? A new AHL coach could have far broader and longer lasting impacts on the perennial success of the franchise than we might realize, providing a steady stream of NHL-ready young talent to a team in the thick of Stanley Cup contention. Choosing a fresh voice to shepherd this next wave of prospects into professional hockey is an opportunity for Briere to solidify that pipeline, and it\'s one of the most important moves he can make this summer.

Talking Points