Big move or patience? Here's what Flyers GM Daniel Briere must ponder this offseason

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksNHL mock draftUFA big boardPlayoff bracketRed Light NewsletterStanley Cup The Flyers are facing an interesting summer after making a run to the second round of the playoffs. James Lang / Imagn Images Share articleVOORHEES, N.J. — The vibes may have changed. The overall vision and plan have not. One year ago, general manager Daniel Briere’s Philadelphia Flyers were coming off a season in which the club had a miserable late-season decline that included an unpleasant coaching change, questions about individual veteran players that were locked up long term and doubts as to whether the rebuild was headed in the right direction. Now? After surprisingly reaching the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Flyers are viewed as a team on the upswing, with a roster full of intriguing young players and respected veterans who could finally help them achieve the kind of sustained success that Briere and those around him have been aiming for since taking over nearly three years ago. Logic might dictate that now would be the time for Briere to be aggressive and fill some of the holes on the roster — a top-line center and a defenseman who can quarterback a power play, specifically — to help push the Flyers to another level. “From the time we started, we said it was going to be a rebuild, and we needed patience,” Briere said Thursday at his season-ending media availability. “I think we’ve shown that that’s what we’ve done. Now, if there’s a chance to help improve the team and (it is) something that makes sense for the long run, yes, we will jump on it. “But as far as I’m concerned, it’s the same thing. We’re still in the growth part of the rebuild.” Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere meets with the media from @FlyersTCenter. https://t.co/i4UabXvJ7S — Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) May 14, 2026 Part of that is due to circumstances out of their control. The free-agent market is thin, thanks to players such as Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Kirill Kaprizov and others inking extensions with their respective clubs. There’s little doubt that the Flyers, now flush with salary-cap space after Briere’s impressive and methodical work to rid the team of unwanted contracts, would jump headfirst into the free-agent pool, were it deeper. Perhaps they’ll keep an eye on Toronto in the event the Maple Leafs end up fielding trade offers for Auston Matthews. Or, maybe they target a guy like pending free agent Darren Raddysh, a 30-year-old defenseman with a booming shot who could step in right away and boost their miserable power play. Briere certainly isn’t going to put his phone away for the summer, content with the roster as it stands. But the general manager also expressed gratitude for what some players already on the team have done. The blatant implication was that some of the younger guys arrived sooner than expected, and that should help with his patient approach to roster-building. Briere mentioned how when they recalled Denver Barkey in December, the plan was to reassign him back to the AHL fairly quickly. That never happened. Same with Alex Bump, who was recalled after the trade deadline on March 7 and remained on the roster the rest of the way. Even Porter Martone stepped in immediately and produced, with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his first 19 career regular-season and playoff games. Briere said he wasn’t sure if it was fair to Martone to throw him directly into the middle of a playoff race. As it turned out, the Flyers probably wouldn’t have even qualified had Martone not shown up on March 31. “Just coming down the stretch, you look at adding three players in Bump, Barkey and Martone that didn’t start the year with us — I have a hard time imagining our lineup without them,” Briere said. “I can’t remember what it was like not having them there to be able to use. Just those three names coming late in the season and filling up roles, your lineup looks better all of a sudden.” And, of course, there’s another young player who has been in the headlines since the day he was drafted nearly three years ago. Matvei Michkov already seems to understand how important this offseason is for him, after he regressed this season and was ultimately scratched in two of the Flyers’ 10 playoff games. On Tuesday and Wednesday, he was encouragingly spotted on the ice at the Flyers’ training facility, skating and shooting pucks. Briere reiterated that Michkov is still “part of the picture for years to come.” But Briere used the same word three times when discussing what Michkov has to do next, as he enters the third and final season of his entry level contract: adapt. “I think he’s a very smart young man. He will adapt and he will learn from what happened this year,” Briere said. “You look at players, even star players… There’s not too many guys where the arrow is pointing up the whole time. You’re going to go through some ups and downs. I know I did in my career. It’s how he’s going to adapt to it, how he’s going to get himself back up from it. But I think he’s a smart man, and will figure that out.” That, of course, means Michkov and coach Rick Tocchet must coexist. Part of the reason guys such as Barkey, Bump and Martone came up and were thrust into the lineup right away is that Tocchet trusted them more than he did Michkov, whose ice time declined nearly two full minutes on average in the regular season from his rookie year due to a combination of Michkov’s early-season fitness level and, often, his questionable decision-making with the puck. Briere left no ambiguity on where he stands with his coach. Tocchet’s first season with the Flyers was a rousing success on several levels, in his opinion. “I was really impressed with how involved (Tocchet) was with the players. He almost became a skills coach as well as a head coach for us. … It’s almost as if he was filling different boxes,” Briere said. “The amount of time he’s spending on the ice after practice … how he stayed and worked with guys individually. The relationships that he had with the players. … There’s a connection there.” Further, having Tocchet around could aid Briere when it comes to adding a big piece or two, whether that’s sooner or later. “I know I’ve gotten a lot of comments from agents that the players would certainly be open to playing here because of Rick Tocchet,” Briere said. “But, it’s more than that. It’s the effort that he’s put in, and how he’s building this team and getting them to believe. I love how he uses his experience, also, as a player to relate to our guys. “Everything in his playing career he earned the hard way. Nothing was ever given to him. That’s kind of the mentality that he brought on with our guys.” Briere seems content, for now, with the coach in place and the roster seemingly in a good spot with so many young players who should conceivably be even better next season. If something comes along over the next few weeks and months that piques his interest, he’ll be ready to have those conversations. If not, he’ll just try to keep the ship steady. “The good thing is we’re in a good spot as far as the salary cap goes, as far as our picks go, as far as our prospects go. There’s a lot of upsides there,” he said. “If there’s an opportunity to jump on something that could help, yes, it’s my job to look at everything. But I don’t feel that I’m forced to make a move just to make a move because we’ve made it in the playoffs this year. “We’ve said it for a long time, we wanted to build a team that’s going to be here for a long time, not just to go for it for a year or two,” Briere continued. “That’s still the same approach on my end.” • The Flyers released a fairly extensive injury list before Briere’s presser. The only player Briere said may not be ready for training camp is winger Nikita Grebenkin, who suffered an upper-body injury in March and never returned. “Initially, we thought it was going to be something short, and it just never got better,” Briere said of Grebenkin. “Now we’re looking at different options for him. He’s the only (one) I would say maybe, if it doesn’t improve. Other than that, everybody else should be back healthy back 100 percent for next season.” • Briere seemed open to extending goalie Dan Vladar beyond next season. Vladar will be eligible for a contract extension on July 1. “He didn’t slow down (in the regular season) and he was just as good or even better in the playoffs,” Briere said. “That was really exciting to see. It makes us believe he could be the answer here, for hopefully a few more years.” • As for Vladar’s counterpart, Briere suggested that the Flyers are still open to Sam Ersson returning, too, after his post-Olympic break surge. Ersson is a pending restricted free agent. • Briere made special mention of the fan support the Flyers received, and specifically the ovation they gave the team after the Game 4 loss to the Hurricanes. “I probably had seven or eight guys in my exit meetings that specifically mentioned how the fans reacted at the end of the game,” Briere said. “The comment that kept coming back was that they knew how special it was to play in the playoffs in Philadelphia. They didn’t realize how special it was.” • Part of what Briere, Keith Jones and Dan Hilferty have been trying to do is make the Flyers a destination for players again. Has Briere seen progress on that front? “One thing I can tell you is just talking to different GMs this year compared to previous years, I didn’t hear as many ‘No, I can’t send him your way because of trade protection,’” Briere said. “I didn’t hear as much of that, which was nice.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms