‘Oh, the game’s about to start’: Behind the scenes of the Ivan Provorov trade

BUFFALO — Flyers general manager Danny Brière didn’t realize what time it was when he called president of hockey operations Keith Jones on Monday night.

Brière was so overcome with excitement from being on the cusp of finalizing his first trade as a general manager that he didn’t pay any mind to the clock. And it wasn’t just any trade — it was a convoluted, three-team blockbuster that would send 26-year-old, first-pairing defenseman Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets. In return, the Flyers received Columbus’ 2023 first-round pick (No. 22 overall) and a conditional 2024 second-round pick. Brière also brought the Los Angeles Kings into the deal, who took on 30% of Provorov’s contract and Flyers defenseman Kevin Connauton and winger Hayden Hodgson, while sending the Flyers their 2024 second-round pick along with goalie Cal Petersen, defenseman Sean Walker, and defensive prospect Helge Grans.

» READ MORE: Trade grades: How did new Flyers GM Danny Brière make out in the Ivan Provorov deal?

When Brière got a hold of Jones, just 15 minutes remained before the start of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers. Jones is finishing out his contract with Turner Sports as a rinkside analyst after serving as a broadcaster for the last 20-plus years. But Jones picked up anyway from the hallway outside TNT’s green room at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and Brière proceeded to inform his boss on a five-minute call that the trade was gaining traction.

“That’s just when I realized like, ‘Oh, the game’s about to start,’” Brière told The Inquirer. “‘I’m so sorry.’ I let him go. But that’s how committed he is to what we’re doing. So it makes me feel good to have people like that around.”

Jones, whom Brière spoke with “four or five times a day” throughout the process, wasn’t the only member of the Flyers’ front office that was kept abreast of the trade discussions surrounding Provorov. Not only did Brière keep Flyers chairman and Comcast Spectacor CEO Dan Hilferty and coach John Tortorella in the loop, but he also leveraged several hockey operations departments for their input on the trade’s various pieces.

Brière consulted with the Flyers’ amateur scouts on the young players who came up in trade talks along with the draft picks. The timing of the trade coincided with the draft combine in Buffalo, making it easier for Brière to communicate back and forth with the group on the ground. He also discussed the various established players with their pro scouting department. Brière brought in the analytics department, too, when the Flyers started to get creative about how they could pull the deal off with three teams.

“That’s probably what I’m really proud of,” Brière said, “was how every department in the Flyers front office came together to have a say and a part to play in this deal.”

For the last couple of weeks, Brière conducted a few different discussions about a Provorov trade with various teams. As those discussions progressed, it became evident to Brière that the best fit was Columbus, as its interest in Provorov was particularly high. But both sides eventually realized that they needed help to close the deal, namely with retention of Provorov’s remaining salary (two years, $6.75 million average annual value).

Brière approached the Kings late in the trade talks and realized that they had their own cap-space needs that could make them a match. Discussions among the three teams intensified throughout Sunday and Monday, leading to a solution that brought the Flyers draft capital and a prospect, the Kings cap relief by dumping Petersen and Walker’s salaries (two years, $5 million AAV for Petersen; one year, $2.65 million AAV for Walker), and the Blue Jackets “the best player in the deal at the moment” in Provorov.

Once Brière felt as if the group was onto something, they decided to close the deal and not drag out discussions. Time was of the essence for the Kings, too, who subsequently signed defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a two-year, $5.875 million AAV contract extension Wednesday with their newfound cap space.

“People might argue that we could have gotten a better deal, but Columbus could have decided to go in a different direction,” Brière said. “They might have gotten a better deal elsewhere. Who knows? So to me, we felt it was fair and it filled the needs that we were looking for.”

While Provorov’s role on the Flyers declined over the last few years, especially offensively last season (six goals, 21 assists in 82 games), Brière noted that plenty of other teams still saw value in him. That value manifested in the return that Brière brought back, including the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s draft, which is deep with forward talent at the top end in particular.

» READ MORE: Ivan Provorov’s decline made the Flyers’ decision to trade him inevitable

One benefit of the timing of the trade is that the Flyers’ amateur scouts have three weeks to dive in on the prospects that are likely to be available at No. 22. Previously, the Flyers held the No. 7 overall pick and then wouldn’t draft again until No. 87 overall in the third round (from the New York Rangers in the Justin Braun trade) because they traded away their second-round pick (No. 39) for Rasmus Ristolainen and their own third-round pick (No. 71) in the Tony DeAngelo deal.

Now, the Flyers’ scouts will have time to focus on pick No. 22 rather than scrambling on the floor had the trade gone down at the draft. The Flyers’ schedule of interviews at the combine was already crammed, according to Brière, but those conversations with the next tier of prospects will be all the more important now.

“I think our approach to the questioning might change a little bit from those picks that we have between 10 and 25,” Brière said. “So now all of a sudden, we’ll try to dig in a little deeper on those guys.”

With the first trade of his career as general manager, Brière helped kick-start the Flyers’ rebuild, adding draft assets while jettisoning players that didn’t fit the long-term vision of the team. Hours after the trio of teams finalized the three-team deal, Brière quipped that he needed a map to outline its terms.

“I don’t know how two-team trades work,” Brière joked. “I’ve never done one.”

The trade isn’t the only roster-building maneuver that Brière is willing to get creative with. He said that “everything’s on the table” as far as moving picks at the draft is concerned. While Brière said he doesn’t have a trade involving the first-round picks actively in the works, he said he’s both open to listening and approaching other teams with ideas. However, he noted that he’s excited about the players the Flyers could potentially land at Nos. 7 and 22.

Additionally, Brière reiterated that the Flyers are “open for business” on the player trade front and will “listen on everybody.”

» READ MORE: Danny Brière: Flyers would at least listen to trade offers for goaltender Carter Hart

The Provorov trade was Brière’s first, and it’s likely not the last. While all eyes are on him to steer the ship through the choppy waters of the rebuild, he isn’t focused on his own image.

“I couldn’t care less what they say about me,” Brière said. “It’s not about me. It’s about our team, and it’s about the organization.”