Briere discusses additions, cap flexibility and more on Flyers Daily Podcast

On Friday’s edition of Flyers Daily with Jason Myrtetus, presented by Ticketmaster, Flyers General Manager discussed the recent additions of Andrei Kuzmenko, Jacob Pelletier, cap flexibility and more.

Briere on moving forward following the trade with Calgary

“We’ve said it from the get-go: the players were going to decide how far we can push with the players that we had, and the players will decide how we move ahead in the future as well. I know sometimes it's tough to take a step back. It's tough to have to be patient, but we really feel that this is the way to go, with where we're going moving forward and the flexibility that is needed to move ahead. Unfortunately, we felt we had to move on from two great guys.”

Briere on trading Farabee and Frost to Calgary

“Well, it was tough and emotional telling the guys. I’ve been in the organization for a long time. I came back on the management side, and Joel and Morgan were both on board. I got to know them really well, especially in Morgan's case, when one of my first assignments was really to work with him, having gone through kind of the same things early on in my career. So, I spent a lot of time with Morgan and he’s a wonderful guy. So, that one was really tough, having to tell them that we were moving in a different direction.”

Briere on progressing through “rebuilding” and emerging into a “building” phase

“I think it's fair to say, we're in between the two stages, maybe. We’re still evaluating. The flexibility of that the deal gives us a chance to kind of peek into the future a little bit and look at what's out there and how we could really make things better in the short term but without losing view of the long term of this organization and where we want to get to in a few years, which is not only to make the playoffs but become a contender. That's still the goal: not just to make the playoffs but become a Stanley Cup contender year after year and build it for years to come. Not just the ‘one in and one out’ year after year.”

Briere on the differences in team perspective when you’re building a consistent winner

“The belief in the room is different. It’s the best feeling in the world knowing that you just need to get to the playoffs, and you'll be dangerous. Early in my playing career, it was kind of the opposite, where we were hoping to make the playoffs, but we didn't really believe that we could make a real run at the Stanley Cup. Early in my years in Buffalo was kind of the same thing, and all of a sudden, we came back from the lockout in '05-06 and it was a totally different belief in the locker room. I got to live that for a couple of years, and then when I signed in Philly, immediately, you sense that. All of my years in Philadelphia, it really felt that we just needed to get in the playoffs, and we were going to be a contender.”

Cap flexibility remains a constant focus

“That's the exciting part because now we can really focus on having the flexibility that we didn't have earlier when you're talking to teams or you're looking at the possible free agents coming up in the summer. We knew you just couldn't get into that market. Now we're going to be doing our homework because we want to make sure we get it right. You got to get the right players coming in the fray. So, that's the next step for us and we've already been looking at that. But now finally, it's a reality, and we can really push forward, so that's really exciting.”

Evaluating the center market

“With the right one, you're probably willing to go long-term and sign a long-term contract, knowing that you'll be married to him for a while. If that's not a possibility or we don't think that right player is there for the long term, we might dive into some shorter-term deals and see some guys that are interesting, but we just don't know enough about we want to see before we commit to a long-term contract with them. We might go in that direction, so we're exploring everything that's out there in the market. We're also exploring everything on the trade front to try to position ourselves in the best way possible moving forward.”

Briere on not rushing the rebuild

“Every single day, every single day, we have to remind ourselves [not to rush the rebuild]. It's tough, and believe me, Jonesy is the same way, and Torts is the same way, Dan Hilferty is the same way. We’re all ultra-competitive and we hold each other accountable. Some days, it's Jonesy that calms everybody down, sometimes it's Dan, sometimes it's Torts. We all see the long-term picture but there are moments where we want to be aggressive, and we want to get it done now because that's in our nature.”

Kuzmenko joining forces in South Philly

“He's an example of a player that we want to know more about. I think we were in the mix a couple of years ago when he came over. He decided to go with Vancouver and exploded right onto the scene. He’s got some explosiveness and he can score goals. It's been an up-and-down kind of two years for him here in North America, but the high-end talent is there, and the exciting part is we get to see him from the inside. We get to know him before we want to, if we want to, commit in the future with him. I can't wait to have him here playing on the ice. You know, is there going to be some chemistry with TK or with Matvei or with Tyson Foerster? Who knows? That’s what I'm looking forward to seeing.”

Briere on Pelletier’s upside

“He’s only 23 years old and the way they were talking about him in the locker room, that's really impressive at his age, already being so well-liked by his teammates. It's more than that with him. At 23 years old, how much upside does he have, how far can he take his game? With his contract situation, we're obviously going to be a little bit more patient with him and we're going to give him the chance. What we're hearing from him is he's a smart player. The coach is going to love him. All the coaches that have had him love him because he's detailed, he works every single shift, and he’s a smart player out there. We want to see with his size, can he be effective at the NHL level? That's pretty much the only thing you're questioning with him. Everything else comes back rated super high. I can't wait to see him. I think he's going to fit in really well with us on this team and Torts is really going to like this guy.”

On possible salary cap projections for the future

“It's very exciting, and the timing, the way we're moving forward and our goal, the timing is perfect for us. We’re clearing and making sure we have some space, even if this stayed at the same number going into next year. We were going to be in a much better position than we've been, probably the last six, seven years here in Philadelphia. So, on top of it, it goes up; it's even more possibilities for us, and even more the following year when a lot of our dead money comes off the cap, and the cap goes up again. It's really exciting for us. Again, we got to make sure the right players coming on board is the key here. But there's no doubt that there's a level of excitement that we haven't had the chance to do something like this in a long time.”

“I can't speak for the other teams, but one thing I know is for our Flyers fans, is that we're very fortunate having Comcast with Brian Roberts and Dan Hilferty behind us, giving us everything possible to be the best possible team on the ice. I'm very grateful for that and our Flyers fans should be as well.”

Briere on positive steps taken by Konecny, Cates and Co.

“There's a lot of guys that took a step forward for us, starting with TK. You know, after signing a big contract, he came back ready to go and took another step. Tippett had a slow start, but he's coming on. Again, his size, his speed, and the way he can score goals is really showing up. But the younger guys, like Cates...he's only 25 or 26. But when you think about Brink taking a step, you talk about Foerster taking a big step as well, that's really exciting because those guys now have shown that they can be part of the future, and they can be part of what we're building here. To me, that's really exciting too.”