Flyers Q&A: Danny Brière on Sam Ersson, Trevor Zegras, the biggest needs this offseason, and more
Brière sat down with The Inquirer to discuss what the future holds for the Flyers, including Matvei Michkov, Owen Tippett, and the dreadful power play.
BUFFALO — Three seasons are complete for Flyers general manager Danny Brière, and he is on the precipice of one of the biggest offseasons of his tenure.
The Inquirer sat down with Brière at the NHL’s scouting combine in western New York to discuss what the future landscape looks like for the Flyers. In the first of two parts, he discusses the current squad and where things stand with free agency.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. It was conducted on June 3, before it was revealed that Dylan Larkin wanted a trade out of Detroit.
Q: You and president Keith Jones have spoken for a long time about wanting to take a step forward. How important do you think it is to add now to the roster?
A: Well, we want to add smartly. You’re not going to see us try to go after a big-time free agent who doesn’t make sense in what we’re trying to do. The goal is still to improve the team, but not mortgage the future. I think that’s probably the best way that we can explain it. It’s got to make sense for years to come before we’re going to trade away some young assets.
Q: With the free agency landscape changing, does it make you look harder at an offer sheet?
A: I think every team will consider that. But people have to understand, an offer sheet also comes with some consequences that you have to consider before going down that road. But we have to consider it. I would say it’s probably not likely with the cap going up; a lot of teams have extra dollars to spend. But we’re definitely going to look into it, like everything.
Q: What would you consider to be this team’s greatest need in terms of position or skill set?
A: I think the greatest need is a top-six center. We have guys that have really stepped up. Trevor Zegras has played center at times, and he has a skill to play in that role. We’ve asked a lot out of Noah Cates, Christian Dvorak, and Sean Couturier to play some heavy minutes, and we’ve asked them to play in that role for a big part of the season. … The other place would be a high-end power-play quarterback on defense, if we could find one.
Q: There’s obviously a lot of interesting over-30-year-old defensemen who are good on the power play available, like John Carlson and Darren Raddysh. I know you cannot comment about them specifically, but would you consider someone over 30 as a stopgap solution?
A: I’m not saying it will happen, but we have to consider it. We have to look to see if it makes sense. Obviously, term and money will play a big role to see if it fits into what we’re doing. It’s an area that we need to improve on, and we’ve been trying to improve on. The exciting part is we’re starting to bring in some guys that have been good on the power play at different levels, when you talk about the [Porter] Martones, the [Denver] Barkeys, [Alex] Bump, even Oliver Bonk and David Jiříček. So we do have some different flavors that are starting to integrate the team. Hopefully that pushes some of our veterans that have had the chance to play on the power play the last few years, but it just hasn’t been good enough.
Q: In the past you have brought in a veteran blueliner, like Erik Johnson, Marc Staal, and Noah Juulsen to be the seventh defenseman. Has this defense reached the point where you don’t need that player?
A: I think we’re probably past the mentor part. If there’s a high-end defenseman that can help us, we’ll have to look at that. It might be time now to give our young guys the chance to see if they can step into those roles, from David Jiříček, Emil Andrae, Bonk, Ty Murchison, Hunter McDonald. I think those guys have probably earned the right to get a look, and hopefully we can fill that all with our younger guys from within. Maybe even guys like Adam Ginning or Helge Grans can step up their game. They could be in the mix as well.
Q: Rasmus Ristolainen has always been mentioned in trade rumors. He was obviously a valuable player down the stretch and in the playoffs, but the reality is he’ll be 32 in October, in the last year of a good deal, and stayed healthy. Do you envision him here come September? Do you anticipate him being in conversations again?
A: Yeah, I mean, we’re going to look into it. I think we have to. That’s our duty as the organization, to explore what’s out there and see if there’s something that makes sense or not. But he was so good down the stretch for us, played on the top pairing with Travis Sanheim, how good he was at the Olympics, how good he was in the playoffs. So he’s a big asset. As we talk about expectations, you trade a guy like Rasmus, and it weakens the team. So if we do it, it’s going to have to make sense for the future. It certainly wouldn’t be ideal for taking a step forward next season if we do trade him, but we have to explore everything that’s out there.
Q: Does having players like Bonk, Jiříček, and maybe McDonald and Murchison, who showed the ability to play at the NHL level, impact things?
A: Well, it’s good to know that we do have some players that have the capabilities to eventually step in. When is that? That’s what we don’t know. Every player kind of graduated at a different pace, but, yeah, we believe that some of those guys will be able to take some of his responsibilities. We just don’t know yet when that will happen. We knew they weren’t quite ready for that down the stretch and into the playoffs, and that was one of the reasons why we kept Risto when we weren’t able to get what we were looking for.
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Q: Dan Vladař extension talks have surfaced. How comfortable are you with going long-term considering he’ll be 29 in August?
A: Vladař was our MVP last year. He was our best player. He was a leader also in the locker room. He’s a guy that wants to be here, and he’s someone we want to be here. So we will definitely consider doing something with him, if he’s open to it. He’s earned it. He believed in us. He wanted to be here, and we don’t feel that we have any prospects that are quite ready to play those minutes and those games. He’s in a great tandem with Sam Ersson. It’s definitely a position that we would like to keep strong, and Dan has earned it.
Q: But it was only one year where he carried the heavy workload and at that high of a level. How do you balance that?
A: That was part of the reason to sign him to a short-term deal. We didn’t know the personality; we didn’t know the person off the ice. You get to know the person, you get to have a test run, basically. Knowing what I know now, I would have signed him to a four-year deal last summer. … Is he going to play that high of a level again next year? There’s no guarantee of that, and we know that. But I think he’s shown us enough to believe that he could be the guy for the future for us.
Q: You mentioned Ersson, who will be a restricted free agent on July 1. Where do things stand with him, and did his play late in the season change your viewpoint?
A: Sam is a gamer, and Sam doesn’t quit. He fits the personality of the Flyers. There’s no quitting with him; even when he has a bad game, he fights back, and he comes back strong. We all know it wasn’t the ideal first half, but we have to give him a lot of credit in the way he could have thrown that season out the window and just give up. But he did not, and he got us some big wins. … We know Sam. He is well-liked in the room, great teammate, great human being, character person, so that plays a lot into it as well, and that’s why we have to strongly consider bringing him back. We haven’t made a decision yet, and we haven’t discussed an extension with him yet, but we’re looking at all options. But he did a lot of good last season and earned [the opportunity to] be considered.
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Q: Zegras is also a restricted free agent. How are his contract talks going, and where do you see his ideal position at this point?
A: I think it’s a great option to have him be able to play either [wing or center]. Part of the season, I thought he was more of a winger than a center, but then coming down the stretch, what he did was very good too, in the middle of the ice. I think it’s nice to have that option, to have a guy like him who’s so creative that can play a different position and help us in the middle if we need to or on the wing. Again, where it stands, I’m not worried about the contract with him and Jamie Drysdale. They’re players that we want back, and I feel they want to be part of the future for the Flyers, so my expectation is they will be there in September when camp opens.
Q: What has it been like for you watching Drysdale’s progression as a top defender?
A: Yeah, it’s been pretty cool to see [him] being able to adjust to the league, to see him work on his game, a student of the game, trying to find ways to improve and get better. We have to give him a lot of credit for the season that he had after — it’s admitted — a little bit of a rough start in Philadelphia. But, defensemen, you have to be patient with them. They take a long time, and it was definitely a good sign to see Jamie take a step forward.
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Q: You have a bit of a logjam on wing. Do you think there is a spot for everyone, or do you need to clear some space?
A: It depends on if Trevor is going to play wing or center. It depends if we ever end up finding another centerman. I think it’s pretty fair to say that we’re not looking to bring in more wingers in our top nine. I think our group is still pretty young and already able to have an impact, so we’re not going to look to bring in outside help on the wing in our top nine.
Q: Like Ristolainen, Owen Tippett is mentioned in trade rumors often. Did it show how much you missed having him in the lineup against Carolina, and did that give you pause to keep him around?
A: First of all, I’m not going around shopping Owen Tippett. But a lot of teams are calling about him because they like the package, the speed, and everything. It’s my job — and I’ve been very honest with Owen; I tell him that too — I have to listen. It’s been going on now for, I think, two years, so I think that shows you how much we value Owen and how much we love him. I’m not foreseeing anything going on there. Owen brings us a lot of speed, and the way he played down the stretch is a big reason why we made the playoffs, and we’re very happy with Owen Tippett.
Q: Is there an update on his health?
A: He did have surgery for a sports hernia. A few days after the year-end meeting, he saw the specialist, and all agreed it was better to do it. So it was taken care of right away. It won’t hamper his offseason training, and he’ll be ready to start the season.
Q: How confident are you that Matvei Michkov will bounce back and learn from this year?
A: I am very confident that Matvei will step up to where he was the previous year, and more. I think it was a tough season. It was a trying season. I believe he’s learned a lot. At the end of the day, he still finished with 20 goals and over 50 points in a trying season. We’ve said it before: Other than Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Macklin Celebrini, there aren’t too many guys that don’t have downs in their career, and I’m sure even those guys have had them at some point.
Development is not an easy, straight arrow going up the whole time; you see that happen to a lot of players in their second year. You have maybe a little bit of a letdown because you think, “I survived, it went pretty well the first year, and you think it’s going to be easy.” Most of the time, the guys bounce back from that, and I expect the same thing from Matvei. He’s so talented, can beat you many different ways, and I expect him to come back with a vengeance and to want to show everybody. Just knowing how competitive he is, I expect him to want to show everybody who he can be.