VOORHEES, N.J. — Danny Briere has been an awfully busy guy in his first offseason stewarding the Flyers' rebuild.
Inevitably, though, Day 1 of NHL free agency wasn't going to be as chaotic for the Flyers. Briere knew he wouldn't be doling out a ton of contracts or trying to throw his line in among the bigger fish.
The Flyers' plan always was to add where they needed support, continue to value their younger players, not commit to a lot of term and be judicious with their cap space.
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On Saturday, Briere inked a tough-to-play-against winger in Garnet Hathaway, a 24-year-old bottom-six piece in Ryan Poehling and a minor-league forward in Rhett Gardner.
"We're going to keep looking the next few days, whatever's out there," the Flyers' general manager said. "I'm not saying something's going to happen, but we're keeping our eyes open if it makes sense."
An area the Flyers might look for some more support over the coming days is on defense. They traded Ivan Provorov last month and Justin Braun retired after last season. Tony DeAngelo very well may be dealt to the Hurricanes soon, a trade that, per The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun, could go through once a league rule issue is resolved. So the Flyers are getting thin on defense. Being young is important for the Flyers' rebuild, but supporting the youth and giving it the best chance to develop is also important.
"It's a fine line, right?" Briere said. "We'd like to add a little bit more of a veteran presence, but at the same time, we want to be careful, our young guys, we don't want to block them. And we want to see what we have, also, it's kind of important to find out what they're really made of, if they're ready for the next stage in their career. There are a few guys that are right there.
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"A lot of times, as an organization, you get eager and you go out and you sign some guys and it blocks your young guys. We're trying to be understanding in that and make sure before we move too far in that direction, that we know what we have. Now, it doesn't mean that we're going to stop looking. There's a chance we might add if it makes sense, but we have some good young players that we want to know a little bit more about at this level."
Cam York, the Flyers' promising 22-year-old defenseman, should be playing a top-four role in the 2023-24 season and maybe even a top-pair role. With York, the Flyers have Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nick Seeler and Sean Walker, who was acquired in the three-team Provorov deal, making up the defensive picture.
"We feel we have some good veterans around him," Briere said. "Adding Walker should help, Risto was playing better in the second half of last year, I think he deserves to get a longer look. In the past, him and Sanheim have played really good together."
As head coach John Tortorella mentioned at his end-of-the-season press conference in April, the Flyers hope some youngsters push for jobs. Egor Zamula, Ronnie Attard, Adam Ginning and Emil Andrae will be among those vying for them.
Speaking of Sanheim, his name had floated around in some trade rumors leading into the NHL draft this week. The 27-year-old was never dealt. Since March, Briere has mentioned that he will listen to any trade interest in this rebuilding offseason. On Saturday, Sanheim's new eight-year, $50 million contract kicked in, a deal that was inked last October and has a no-trade clause.
"The size, the way he moves, top-four defenseman, those are hard to find around the league," Briere said. "We did get a lot of calls and we did listen, just like I did with every player on the team, but nothing made sense for us at this point.
"I don't imagine him being moved at this point. Even going into it, I didn't think he would get moved. But at the same time, you listen. Like I said before, it's my duty to listen. Just nothing really made sense at this point. Obviously now he has a no-trade clause and we're going to respect that."
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