Flyers general manager Danny Briere noted the 2023, 2024 and 2025 NHL drafts “will be critical for our future” and Philadelphia is willing to trade up or down in this coming NHL Draft depending on what is available. In short, the only certainty is uncertainty in terms of draft positioning.
“If we have the chance to acquire more picks it has to make sense at the same time,” Briere said Thursday morning during a press conference with Flyers beat reporters ahead of next week’s NHL Draft. “And to be honest with you we’re looking at all kinds of things. We’re looking to possibly move up with certain picks, we’re looking to move back. Obviously if we move up we might have to give up a pick or two. But if the value is worth it to move up to give up a pick on the back end to acquire a player or pick a player that we really love we’ll jump on it.
“On the flip side if there’s a clump of players that we feel comfortable with we might try to move back to acquire more assets either later in the draft or next year. So everything is on the table for us. We’re looking at all kinds of options. When I talk to teams we’re not stuck in just one mode of trying to move up or trying to move back.”
Another important aspect of the draft is allowing players to develop. Briere cited both how the development arcs of Oliver Bonk and Matvei Michkov could be quite similar. Although Briere had no news on Michkov’s status and possibly leaving his KHL contract early, he said it’s vital players have the chance to hone their skills first rather than being rushed up the ladder. It’s something Briere addressed quite clearly citing his own time in the minors before he became an NHL player.
“Players need time to develop,” he said. “Development is critical with those guys and I’d rather have a player playing in juniors 25 or 30 minutes and a year in the minors or two in the minors playing heavy minutes where they become the guy. They’re put in situations to learn how to be the top power play guy or the top centerman and taking big faceoffs rather than come here and play on the Flyers. Yeah it’s impressive and I know every player wants that at 18 or 19 years old. I remember being there and being upset because I had to do the bus rides for four years in the minors after turning pro. But I think it’s so critical for the development of players to give them a chance to be in those situations so when they arrive in the NHL they can handle it. Playing six, seven, eight minutes, maybe 10 minutes on the fourth line. I don’t see that’s really helpful in the long term plan of the development of a player.”
Perhaps one of the more refreshing bits of news was Briere’s approach to drafting. Rather than ensuring prospects fit a certain size, skill set and approach to playing he thinks “diversity” is integral to success. “You can’t have all the same, that’s my belief,” he said. “There’s teams that have certain tendencies. I hope that we can diversify and bring all kinds of types of players: smaller, bigger, faster, more hockey sense. Those are probably some of the things we look at. The hockey sense is an important one. Speed in today’s game is an important one.”
Briere also said if two prospects at different positions were close to equal in terms of skill or assets the team “might lean in to a center because let’s face it we’re lacking centers coming up throughout the organization.”
One topic Briere tip-toed around was the situation regarding Carter Hart and his being a restricted free agent. Briere said all RFAs outside of Hart will be given qualifying offers but it still remains unclear what course of action they’ll take. “We’re still waiting for guidance from the NHL on that,” he said. “We’re still waiting for guidance from them as far as what we can do and what it is and how it works out. There’s a lot of questions surrounding the situation that we’re hoping to have a little bit more direction on.”
The general manager also mentioned the speculation surrounding a trade involving the Flyers and the Senators, jokingly stating how quiet things were until Wednesday when Twitter was abuzz with chatter regarding the Flyers possibly landing the seventh overall pick. Briere said there “wasn’t anything immiment at this point but I expect things to keep ramping up” and “if it makes sense we’re going to jump on it.” He also stated if anyone in the media knew what Columbus might do with their 2024 second round pick as part of the Ivan Provorov trade last year to let him know. Columbus has until the end of the first round next week to inform the Flyers if they wish to keep the pick or not. If Columbus keeps the second round pick in 2024 the Flyers get Columbus’ second round pick in 2025.
And finally as far as the frenzy that comes on July 1 with free agency signings, Briere said the team frankly “don’t expect to do much” due to having “a lot of dead money” going into his second year as general manager. “This summer is going to be tough, next summer it should ease up a little bit but we’re still going to be in a little bit of a crunch. But looking towards the future I think it’s hopefully going to get easier,” he said.
So while the July 1 frenzy might not hit the Flyers much if at all, it sounds as if the Flyers could be rolling some dice next week prior to and during the NHL Draft in Las Vegas.
