Danny Brière wants to swing big to turn the Flyers into contenders. He might face a happy problem.
If the team doesn't make a great leap forward, going after a star becomes an easy decision. But what if the Flyers show they might be ready to win now? What does the GM do then?
Here’s the funny part about the Flyers’ renaissance last season and their heightened expectations ahead of this season: There has been a pretty wide disparity between the team’s tangible achievements and the collective reaction to those achievements.
Achievement 1: The Flyers, with a desperate charge late in the regular season, qualify for the playoffs — an accomplishment that was once taken for granted by the franchise and its fans — for the first time since 2020. They then beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, perhaps the only playoff team the Flyers were capable of beating, in six games.
Reaction to Achievement 1: The crowds inside the Xfinity Mobile Arena, especially for the team’s victories in Games 3 and 6 against the Penguins, are louder than they’ve been in more than a decade.
» READ MORE: A lighter Matvei Michkov flashes improved English and speed on Day 1 of Flyers training camp: ‘He’s put in the work’
Achievement 2: The Flyers are reasonably competitive against the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes, but nonetheless are swept in the second round, scoring just five goals in four games.
Reaction to Achievement 2: A standing ovation, to thank the team, fills the Xfinity Mobile Arena in the immediate aftermath of the Flyers’ season-ending overtime loss in Game 4.
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Achievement 3: Danny Brière, the Flyers’ general manager, makes the daring decision to offer Anaheim Ducks up-and-comer Leo Carlsson a five-year, $90-million contract. But the move doesn’t actually work; the Ducks match the Flyers’ offer and keep Carlsson.
Reaction to Achievement 3: The Flyers are showing they’re back! They’re taking big swings!
This is not to denigrate the Flyers for their obvious improvement or to criticize their fans for being excited that their favorite team is relevant again. It is merely to remind everyone that the Flyers had a long way to go just to return to mediocrity, that they still have a long way to go to be a true Stanley Cup contender, and that any advancement, like the one they took last spring, would be greeted with unfettered joy. As Eddie Murphy said in a memorable stand-up bit years ago, if you’re starving and somebody throws you a cracker, you’re going to think that cracker is the best thing you’ve ever eaten in your life. That wasn’t a Saltine! That had to be a Ritz!
Now, though, those fans, and to a large extent the franchise’s players and power people themselves, won’t be satisfied with another round of appetizers. Brière hinted recently that it’s possible the Flyers will take a step backward, that the roster’s collection of talented players in their early-to-mid 20s struggles to replicate or surpass last season’s performance and justify all this hope.
“The part that keeps me up at night is having some of your players feel complacent, feel like they’ve made it,” Brière said. “Let’s face it, we’re still a young team. We’ve had guys who had success last year. You saw what happened with Matvei [Michkov]. Had a lot of success the first year. It’s tougher the second year. … They’re going to be a big part of our team, and if that happens, we’re going to have a setback.”
The more interesting development, actually, would be if all those promising youngsters did reach their potential or exceed expectations. Then Brière will have a real conundrum on his hands. With the Carlsson offer sheet and his public comments, Brière has left no doubt that the Flyers are looking for ways to acquire a top-line center or top-pair defenseman — or both if possible.
» READ MORE: Flyers ‘stayed hungry’ after their playoff run, and it showed as training camp begins
Cap space wouldn’t be the issue; they have more than enough to bring on a high-salaried star. Desire wouldn’t be the issue; at the moment, the Flyers know they need a premier player at one of those two premier positions. Timing wouldn’t necessarily be an issue, either; there’s no telling when a standout player who fits the Flyers — Dylan Larkin? Quinn Hughes? Someone no one is thinking of right now? — might become available.
“We’ve positioned ourselves,” Brière said. “It took a while, and we took some licks to miss the playoffs and be a bad team for way too long in my mind to just throw away the cap space we’ve built and the freedom we’re able to have. … We’re not going to be reckless about it. It was so tough to get there, with that freedom, that we want to try to get the right guy and spend our money properly. That’s the way I see it. If something comes up that makes sense, yes, definitely, we won’t be afraid to swing again.”
No, the primary issue could be a happy problem: What if the Flyers do continue their upward climb, and what if they make that climb at a rate that exceeds their own expectations? What if Michkov and Porter Martone and Trevor Zegras and Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett and Jamie Drysdale and who knows who else demonstrate that any of them, or all of them, is indispensable? Does Brière still take that big swing? If so, who and what would he have to give up to pull it off?
That’s the potential risk. That’s the most important question he and the Flyers have to answer. Because if this team does manage to build on what it began last season, no one around here will settle for saltines anymore.
