Danny Briére calls Flyers’ win-less start ‘a sign that it’s not good enough’
It’s still not time to panic yet, he says, but the Flyers have been “a little too casual” to start the year.
BOSTON — Over the course of the Flyers’ rebuild, general manager Danny Briére has preached patience. Even at the opening of training camp, Briére tried to prepare the fanbase for a potential step back.
Fresh off a playoff run, however, there’s no doubt that expectations are as high as they’ve been at any point in the rebuild, and the group has for the most part failed to meet the moment.
It’s still not time to panic yet, he says, but the Flyers have been “a little too casual” to start the year on their season-opening, six-game losing streak. The group put up a better effort in Ottawa, but otherwise were otherwise heavily out-shot and out-chanced in five of the six losses.
“It’s a good chance for us to evaluate our players when expectations are higher, who can rise up and who gets crushed by the higher expectations,” Briére said.
» READ MORE: Flyers announce injuries to Travis Konecny and Cam York in the midst of five-game winless streak
At the start of training camp, Briére said the thought of this Flyers group getting complacent after winning a playoff series last year kept him up at night.
He checked in on Michael Bunting in the off-season, but ultimately decided to stick with the young group and give them an opportunity to keep progressing. Four games in, he was ready to shake things up.
“It’s not like — it’s not a panic move, it’s just like, look, this is not good enough guys,” Briére said. “We know this group and what they can do, they showed us last year what they can do. We didn’t want to panic and try to trade everybody, but it’s a sign that it’s not good enough, what we’ve done so far to start the season.
“I know there’s all kinds of excuses with the short camp, didn’t have the chance to prepare and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, we didn’t like the compete level of our guys to start the season.”
Briére also wanted Alex Bump, who’d been demoted to the fourth line, to have the opportunity to play more consistently in the top six in Lehigh Valley.
Maybe Bunting can add some spark to the floundering Flyers lineup. But most importantly, the group’s overall effort needs to improve.
“There’s lots of issues, but it starts with that,” Briére said.
On Saturday in Boston, once again, the Flyers were well out-shot, struggled to complete clean passes, and looked lifeless on the power play. The team was down Travis Konecny, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Cam York, but after two weeks of poor effort, they’re losing the benefit of the doubt. Coach Rick Tocchet has said repeatedly after losses that the group is “too comfortable” and isn’t “battling” hard enough.
That’s especially important on a roster like this Flyers roster, which lacks truly high-end talent.
“We’re a team that needs to have everybody working the same direction,” Briére said. “The way we’re built, the full team is important, to have everybody going. We don’t have a superstar that’s going to come out and score four or five goals in a game to win a game by himself. I think they’ve shown enough in the past last year to believe in them still, but there’s no doubt the competitive level has to raise up.”
Acquiring true superstar talent is no easy feat. The Flyers struck out on Leo Carlsson, and haven’t had the draft lottery luck to land a young star like Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard.
Maybe Matvei Michkov or Porter Martone can develop into a star-level player, or if the losing streak continues, they’ll get another chance at the lottery. But until then, the Flyers have to win with their depth and their structure, and if they want to make another run to the postseason, they can’t afford to let their effort drop.
“You raise your compete level, a lot of things will fall into place,” Briére said. “A lot of little things sometimes, or little mistakes, you’ll be able to recover so the rest of your game won’t stand out as much. A lot of it starts with the compete level.”
