Philadelphia Flyers interim general manager Daniel Briere acknowledged the team is in need of a multi-year rebuild as he campaigns to earn the job on a permanent basis.
Briere, 45, replaced GM Chuck Fletcher on Friday. Fletcher, who was fired after five seasons, was also the team’s president of hockey operations. Briere said he would be honored to fill either position but was focused on the general manager position.
“I don’t have a problem with the interim tag. I think [ownership is] It’s going to take a fair amount of time to evaluate who should be in that position full-time. I see myself living here and being a part of the future. I hope they will believe me too. Looks like it,” he said.
Briere played with the Flyers for six seasons during his 17-year NHL career. He was hired last year as a special assistant to Fletcher and was involved in decisions such as the hiring of coach John Tortorella.
Dave Scott, president of Comcast Spectacor and governor of the Flyers, called the team’s path to Stanley Cup contention “a multi-year process”. Brear agreed with that timetable.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s not a quick fix. It’s going to take a while,” Briere said.
Fletcher famously said last season that the Flyers needed “an offensive retool” rather than a rebuild. While Briere said he was not afraid to call the next phase of the team a “rebuild”, he cautioned that this does not mean there will be “a whole new team” in Philadelphia next season.
“We have to be careful. I want to make sure that ‘rebuilding’ does not mean fire sale,” Briere said. “There’s a big difference between the two. So I want to make that clear. We’re not getting rid of everybody. We have some good players here, some players in certain roles that we’re also going to keep. ” ,
Briere said he would spend the next few months evaluating players and hockey operations staff with an eye on the future, an opportunity to “dive a little deeper” into the roster and players in the Flyers system.
Brear anticipated that assistant general manager Brent Flaher would remain during the season and as part of the Flyers’ preparation for the NHL Draft. But when asked by the team’s senior advisors how he fit into their vision for the Flyers, Briere was nonresponsive. Former NHL general managers Paul Holmgren, Bobby Clarke and Dean Lombardi, as well as former coach Bill Barber, have come under scrutiny for how much influence they have behind the scenes with Flyers ownership.
“I have a lot of respect for the guys that they have accomplished in their careers on and off the ice,” Brière said. “I’ve been in this situation for 48 hours. I’ve had a quick chat with them. But at this point, that’s all that’s happened. So we’ll see how that goes.”
Regarding his job prospects, Briere said he was not concerned about his lack of front-office experience. Prior to becoming a special assistant to Fletcher, he ran the day-to-day operations of the ECHL Maine Mariners, a minor-league team that had been purchased by the Flyers. Briere also said he studied general managers he played for, including Holmgren, Buffalo’s Darcy Regier and Colorado’s Joe Sakic.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that I can do the job. I’ll have some great people around me as well. It’s not something I’m going to do alone,” Brière said. “I’m not going to lie: I saw myself doing this when I was playing. I always believed I could be in this position one day.”
