PHILADELPHIA — The very fact that Danny Briere made a bold move with Christian Dvorak’s long-term contract might tell you the Flyers are just about all in on getting back to the playoffs very soon.
The GM could be sending a message to both his players and Flyers fans that the days of just building this team are over. Briere sounds happy with what he has.
At a Tuesday night media session to discuss Dvorak’s newly signed $25.75-million contract, Briere discussed what the deal means to the team’s future.
“There aren’t a lot of unrestricted free-agent centers available this summer,” Briere pointed out during his talk at Xfinity Mobile Arena. “The options are to let him walk, trade him or to re-sign him.
“If you let him walk, you have to find someone else. You have to look at a trade and it’s going to cost you assets. Christian is probably better than any trade we would have been able to make.”
These are the kinds of moves which signal the Flyers are comfortable and confident with the players out there. That 13-1-5 record after losses can have that effect.
For years the Flyers have been drafting players and crossing their fingers. While that process is still important, the Flyers are starting to believe that young, somewhat established guys like Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, Denver Barkey, Cam York and Emil Andrae can lead the charge back to respectability.
Briere isn’t worried about a seasoned veteran like Dvorak blocking the progress of a potential young star.
“The young prospects, there’s no guarantee,” Briere said. “You never know when they’re going to be ready. Everybody has their own pace.
“I look at my own career, I was 24, 25 years old before I took the next step,” Briere said. “You just don’t know. Denver Barkey, last year we thought he would be in the minors for two, three years and now he’s with us. We’re not going to rush anybody. When a player is ready, we’ll find a way to make him room.”
Still, Briere wants to proceed with caution. He’s not going to make moves that have risk at the trade deadline.
“We’ll try to help the team if we can,” he said. “But it’s going to be something that’s going to make sense. It doesn’t change the vision or what we’re trying to do in the future. If we make a move, it will be something that helps us in the future.”
The Flyers have been jockeying for a playoff spot almost since day one. Briere admits even he didn’t think the turnaround would develop this quickly.
“A little better than I expected,” he said. “I did expect us to be competitive. We could win two games and be in first place or we could lose three and be in last place in our division. There’s no guarantee. But we’re right in the mix and that’s exciting.”
The Flyers got close two seasons ago before suffering a late season collapse. Briere doesn’t expect a repeat.
“A lot of our young players got that experience,” he said. “We saw how it went in the second half. I’m hoping that this year a lot of the guys will be better prepared and face the music when it matters most.”
Briere gives a lot of the credit for the Flyers’ success to coach Rick Tocchet.
“He’s creating really good habits,” Briere said. “Tightened up defensively. Overall we certainly look like a (competitive) team. I’ve been happy with the coaching staff.”
Dvorak and Trevor Zegras have really worked well together. Now that Dvorak is signed for multi-years, will the Flyers try to get Zegras’ signature on a contract? He’s a restricted free agent through the 2026-27 season.
“I hope it (the partnership) helps (get Zegras signed),” Briere said. “Trevor is another reason why we’ve taken another step. He’s restricted, so we have a little more power on that front.
“We want to keep him here.”
Keeping those two together might change the Flyers’ fortunes for years to come. The Dvorak contract was the first step.
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