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Philadelphia Flyers Add Daniel Briere To Hockey Ops

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The Philadelphia Flyers have officially named Daniel Briere to the position of special assistant to the general manager, bringing him into the front office on a full-time basis. Briere had previously been with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL, most recently as president and governor. Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher explained what it means to have Briere join:

I’m very happy to add Danny to our hockey operations team in a full-time role. His insight and experience from 25 years in professional hockey, as well as first-hand knowledge of the Philadelphia Flyers, is a valuable asset for our organization and I look forward to working closely with him on a day-to-day basis.

Briere, 44, is considered a top up-and-coming executive and was even considered for the GM role with the Montreal Canadiens recently. He has been a development consultant with the Flyers for the past two years and before his time with Maine, served on the business operations side of the Philadelphia organization.

Now, according to Fletcher, Briere will be involved in all aspects of hockey operations including scouting and player development. A veteran of 973 regular season games, Briere racked up more than 300 goals in a long career that included a long stint with the Flyers. While his regular season production was excellent, it is the playoffs where most of the center’s memorable moments occurred. Briere was an outstanding postseason performer, racking up 116 points in 124 career playoff games and helping the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010, leading all players in scoring.

All of that experience will now come into play for the Flyers front office, where he’ll take the next step toward a likely eventual future at the helm of an NHL team.

Flyers Expected To Promote Daniel Briere

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The Flyers are set to make a change to their front office.  As first reported by Crossing Broad’s Anthony SanFilippo and since confirmed by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link), Philadelphia is set to promote Daniel Briere to a higher role in the organization.  The exact title he’ll now hold is uncertain, either as an Assistant GM or Special Assistant to the GM with an official announcement expected in the next couple of weeks.

The long-time center, who spent six seasons with them as a player, has been a consultant to the team for the past two seasons and held the Special Assistant title for a couple of years after retiring but the bulk of his front office work has been done outside the organization.  He has held several roles with Maine of the ECHL, helping build that franchise up from the ground and is currently their team President and Governor.

Briere recently interviewed for the GM role in Montreal and while that role ultimately went to Kent Hughes, he was believed to be one of the three finalists for the position.  Now, it appears he’ll get an opportunity to do more with the Flyers as GM Chuck Fletcher starts to build up Philadelphia’s front office.

Flyers Announce Front Office Promotions

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  • The Philadelphia Flyers officially made a few changes to the front office. Alyn McCauley has been promoted to director of player personnel, while Tom Minton is now the director of hockey operations. McCauley has been with the Flyers for five years as a pro scout, while Minton was previously the director of hockey information and video. Recently, general manager Chuck Fletcher explained that the team is doubling the size of their analytics department and investing more in development staff.

Latest On Claude Giroux, Flyers’ Deadline Plans

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When Chuck Fletcher met with the media this morning, the Philadelphia Flyers GM had a very clear message. This season is lost and it’s time to look forward to the coming years.

That started immediately when Fletcher explained that both Sean Couturier and Ryan Ellis could undergo season-ending surgeries and his recommendation to the medical staff was to “get these guys right for next year.” Ellis has played in just four games this season after being acquired from the Nashville Predators in the offseason. Later in the press conference, he explained that the hope is still for them to avoid surgery as it should be the last option, but it is a possibility for both players.

Injuries like that were pointed at several times by Fletcher and Flyers’ governor Dave Scott as one of the reasons that the season was derailed. Scott put his faith in Fletcher several times, calling him “my guy” and explaining that he will write a “blank check” for the GM to fix it as quickly as possible.

One of the biggest questions was the future of captain Claude Giroux, who is on the final year of his contract. Fletcher confirmed that the decision will be up to Giroux on whether or not he’s traded to a contender at the deadline. The veteran forward will discuss it with his agent over the All-Star break. Giroux holds a full no-movement clause, carries a cap hit of $8.275MM but is owed just $5MM in salary this season.

Overall, the Flyers appear to be heading into the deadline as an aggressive seller. Everything is on the table, according to Fletcher, who wants to avoid a full rebuild but start in on a retool in the coming weeks. Multiple times he referenced that the team needs more “top-end talent” and noted that Giroux is the best offensive player on the team, but he’s now 34. On Rasmus Ristolainen, another pending unrestricted free agent, Fletcher explained that the team brought him to Philadelphia to keep him, though would only say that he will work with representation to see “what makes sense.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Keith Yandle Sets NHL Ironman Record

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Last season, Patrick Marleau broke a record that some expected to withstand the test of time when he broke the all-time games played mark.  Today, another record that had stood for a long time was broken when Flyers defenseman Keith Yandle suited up in the starting lineup against the Islanders, his 965th straight game played, surpassing Doug Jarvis who had held the record since 1986.

Yandle is in his 16th NHL season and hasn’t missed a game since March 26, 2009, back in his first full season.  But getting to this point hasn’t been without its challenges as he was very nearly made a healthy scratch in Florida at the start of last season but managed to play in every game, albeit in a more limited role than he was accustomed to.

After the Panthers bought the 35-year-old out last summer, he signed a one-year, $900K contract with Philadelphia (that holds full no-trade protection) with the hopes that he could add some firepower to their back end.  That hasn’t happened, however, as he has just 13 assists in 42 games while his playing time has dipped to just over 15 minutes a night, nearly six minutes below his career average.

While Yandle has the record, there’s definitely a chance that his benchmark – which should continue to grow in the coming weeks – won’t be the top one for as long as Jarvis held his record.  Coyotes winger Phil Kessel is suiting up in his 941st career game tonight and while he obviously won’t make up any ground as long as both are playing every game, the veteran winger is a year younger and is still fairly productive which could give him a chance to catch Yandle at some point.

But that chase is for a later date.  At this moment, Yandle stands alone with the ironman record and if he continues to play in every game for the Flyers this season, he’ll crack the 1,000 consecutive games played mark in April.

Philadelphia Flyers Hire John Torchetti

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The Philadelphia Flyers have added an assistant coach to the staff, filling a vacancy left behind by the firings earlier this season. John Torchetti has been hired and will join Mike Yeo’s staff, along with Nick Schultz and Darryl Williams. Notably, the Flyers also announced that Yeo will remain interim head coach for the remainder of the season, despite the team losing their last 12 in a row and 14 of 19 since he took over.

If there wasn’t so much frustration surrounding the Flyers at the moment, Torchetti joining Yeo’s staff might bring a few laughs. After all, he was the coach who took over in Minnesota when Chuck Fletcher–then the Minnesota GM, now Philadelphia’s–fired Yeo in 2016. Torchetti has also served as an interim coach for the Florida Panthers and Los Angeles Kings, seemingly always coming in to clean up and add structure to a bad situation.

He actually had a winning record for Minnesota down the stretch and took that team to the playoffs, something that certainly doesn’t seem likely in Philadelphia this year. The team now sits dead last in the Metropolitan Division, tied with the New York Islanders despite playing eight more games. It’s been a dreadful stretch and the Flyers now own the third-worst goal differential in the entire NHL, only ahead of the Arizona Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens.

Torchetti has been a head coach in the IHL, AHL, KHL, and QMJHL as well, most recently with the Moncton Wildcats in 2019-20.

Injury Notes: Zucker, Allison, Raffl, DeMelo

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According to CapFriendly, the Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward Jason Zucker back on long-term injured reserve after returning from injury for just one game. He played last Monday against the Vegas Golden Knights, so the team placed him retroactive to January 17th. He’ll now have to miss another 10 games and 24 days, of which he’s already missed two and five, respectively. Zucker had been on LTIR for almost a month already after suffering a lower-body injury. He is once again week-to-week. Zucker is again struggling during his second full season in Pittsburgh, posting just 13 points in 31 games.

More injury news from around the league on this Sunday:

  • Philadelphia Flyers forward Wade Allison suffered an MCL sprain during yesterday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, per head coach Mike Yeo. Allison, one of Philadelphia’s better forward prospects, had already suffered an ACL tear that kept him out at the beginning of the 2020-21 season. Yeo notes, that he believes this MCL injury is on a different knee. It was Allison’s first game of the season for the Flyers after posting four points in seven games with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He’s listed as week-to-week.
  • Dallas Stars head coach Rick Bowness says forward Michael Raffl is out between 10 days and two weeks with a lower-body injury. Raffl’s seen a lot of ice time this year, his first in Dallas, in a checking role alongside Radek Faksa and Luke Glendening, posting nine points in 37 games. Dallas will need to call up a forward to replace him, likely Rhett Gardner or Riley Tufte.
  • Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo sustained an upper-body injury during yesterday’s loss against Boston, per team play-by-play man Dennis Beyak. DeMelo has just four points through 36 games but has still been above the norm defensively. There’s no current timeline for his return.

Joel Farabee Out Four Weeks With Upper-Body Injury

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The Philadelphia Flyers’ nightmare season continues, this time with an injury to Joel Farabee. The young forward had been placed on injured reserve and is expected to miss up to four weeks with an upper-body injury. Kevin Hayes has also been placed on injured reserve following his adductor procedure earlier this week. As replacements, the Flyers have recalled Wade Allison and Jackson Cates to the taxi squad.

Interim head coach Mike Yeo told reporters including Giana Han of the Philadelphia Inquirer that something happened to Farabee last night, but didn’t get into the specifics of whether or not it is related to his previous injury. At any rate, he’ll be out for the next few weeks as the Flyers continue to spiral down the standings. The team has now lost ten straight and barely sit ahead of the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders, who have each played fewer games.

Farabee, 21, is one of the few bright spots in Philadelphia, even though his overall production still hasn’t been outstanding this season. The 2018 first-round pick has 11 goals and 18 points in 33 games, enough to put him fourth on the team in scoring so far. While there are many players on the roster who might not be with the team after this dreadful season, it seems unlikely that Farabee would lose his spot as a building block. The young forward signed a six-year, $30MM extension in September that will keep him under contract at a reasonable $5MM cap hit through the 2027-28 season.

In terms of replacements, Cates has played just seven games at the NHL level this season and 11 since signing out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth as an undrafted free agent last spring. Allison, a second-round pick from 2016, scored seven points in 14 games last season for the Flyers but has missed a huge chunk of this year with an ankle sprain. In seven games with Lehigh Valley, Allison had four points.

Kevin Hayes Undergoes Procedure, Out 3-4 Weeks

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The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that center Kevin Hayes underwent a procedure this morning to drain fluid from his adductor region. He will miss the next three to four weeks, another pump in what has been a nightmare season for the veteran forward.

Hayes has played in just 20 games this season, including last night’s loss to the New York Islanders. He has just three goals and nine points while dealing with several stints on injured reserve and a bout with COVID-19. All of that followed the tragedy of his brother’s death in the offseason, when Jimmy Hayes suddenly passed away.

Speaking about his teammate, Scott Laughton told reporters including Jordan Hall of NBCS Philly that he “commends him for playing through what he has” and called him an incredible teammate. With a three to four-week absence now in front of him, Hayes will miss at least the next seven games and likely many more, as the scheduled Olympic break is filled with previously postponed matches.

It’s been a disaster for Philadelphia this season and the lack of a full-strength Hayes has been a big part of that. In his first two seasons with the Flyers, he registered 35 goals and 72 points in 124 games, playing on both the powerplay and penalty kill. The team is now 13-18-7 on the year and owns the third-worst goal differential (-34) in the Eastern Conference. Now on an eight-game losing streak, they’ll have to find a way to get back in the win column without Hayes in the lineup.

Poll: Is The Eastern Conference Playoff Picture Already Complete?

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It doesn’t make for much of an exciting stretch run, but it just might be the truth and The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington isn’t afraid to make the claim: less than halfway through the 2021-22 NHL season, the eight Eastern Conference playoff spots appear to be locked up. While the eight in place can certainly jockey for position, Harrington believes that those teams currently in the postseason in the East will stay in postseason position and those not, including his Buffalo Sabres, have nothing left to play for this season. Do you agree?

The conference standings do paint a pretty bleak picture for the playoff race, as the gap between the eighth and final playoff spot and the next closest competitor is sizeable. In terms of both absolute points and points percentage, the Boston Bruins sit in eighth in the East with 46 points and a .657 points percentage, holding the second wild card spot if the postseason started today. In ninth place in both categories are the Detroit Red Wings, but calling it a distant ninth is generous. Detroit has 39 points on the year, just seven back of Boston, but having played four more games than the Bruins the Red Wings are actually just a .500 team, 157 percentage points back. Every other team outside the playoff picture is under .500 and they are all chasing a Bruins team that is 8-2 in their past ten games, riding a five-game winning streak. Just ahead of Boston are the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are also 8-2 in their last ten. The only other teams in the conference that are not 200+ percentage points ahead of Detroit are the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers.

[See: Eastern Conference Standings]

Statistically, there don’t appear to be any clear underachievers outside of the playoff picture primed for a late push either. All eight teams not in a playoff spot in the East have a negative goal differential, with the top mark being the Columbus Blue Jackets at -15. In contrast, the worst differential among the playoff teams is the Rangers’ +17 and they are the only club below +20. Hardly any of the non-playoff teams hold a spot in the top half of the league in any major statistical category either. The New York Islanders are ninth in goals against per game and eleventh in penalty kill efficiency, the Blue Jackets are tied for twelfth in goals for per game, the New Jersey Devils are thirteenth on the penalty kill, and the Ottawa Senators are tied for fourteenth in power play efficiency – end of list.

Yet, can the playoff picture really be sealed up this early? The law of averages suggests that a current playoff team is likely to slump while a current non-playoff team is likely to hit their stride in the second half. In fact, this may have already begun. While the Bruins and Penguins have been surging, the Capitals are just 4-3-3 in their last ten games and struggling to find consistent goaltending and defensive play. The Capitals’ record is also buoyed by a league-leading nine overtime points and their abysmal 30th-ranked power play is a major stain on their playoff resume. If there is a pretender in the East, it could be Washington. The Rangers may also be due for some regression in the second half. New York has exceeded expectations thus far and have somehow found ways to win despite trouble scoring. Their 2.85 goals per game is tied for 18th in the league, behind the likes of Columbus and New Jersey and just .01 ahead of Ottawa. On the flip side of the playoff picture, the Islanders are one of the biggest disappointments of the season. A conference finalist last year, the Isles looked to be building a true contender. While they are still playing a good defensive game, the team has had no luck offensively this season. Yet, with a league-low  30 games played, the Islanders could have time to find their game and fight their way back into postseason consideration. At least on paper, the Philadelphia Flyers should also be better than their current record, while the rebuilding Red Wings and Blue Jackets should be happy with their performance so far this season but would be even happier to get their young rosters into a postseason battle.

It is hard to remember a conference having no battle for playoff position in recent memory, especially so early in the season. While it looks like that could be the case this year in the East, is that actual a realistic expectation? Is the current gap in the standings just too wide to overcome? Or is there enough potential for one or two teams in the playoff picture to collapse while one or two on the outside find a way back? Vote now and comment on which teams, if any, could drop out of the playoff picture and who might replace them.

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