Flyers’ GM Danny Briere Joins The Locker Room on 97.3 ESPN

On Thursday morning, Philadelphia Flyers’ GM Danny Briere was the last to go in end-of-season media availability, putting a bow on the 2025-26 season.

But this wasn't the last time we would hear from Briere before the offseason kicked into gear.

Briere joined Billy Schweim on The Locker Room on 97.3 ESPN on Sunday morning to further wrap up a season that featured a playoff series win and run into the second round. Here’s what he had to say:

On the ovation from the fans after being eliminated:

“Absolutely. It was so cool. It’s never easy when you get eliminated. Obviously we wanted to keep playing. We would have loved to still be playing tonight. But it is what it is. Overall, the players never quit. The players really pushed and took a big step forward this season. Jonesy and I and Tocc, we talk about the playoffs all the time and how special it is to play in the playoffs in Philadelphia. I had so many comments from the players themselves, saying they didn’t realize how cool it was and how loud and how much the fans got into it. They were blown away. Obviously I was lucky enough to experience it a few times in my playing days, but to see it from the stands, to see it from the press box, to see how the fans reacted at the end of that game, that was really, really special and the players really noticed.”

On the 2010 Stanley Cup Final run, where Briere was a player:

“That was probably, as a player, the highlight of my career. Probably the best two months for me personally, and where I played my best as well. I’ll never forget that. But now, I’m hoping to see it from upstairs and see our guys go all the way and bring a Stanley Cup back here hopefully in the future.”

On how valuable Rick Tocchet was in his first year as Flyers’ head coach:

“He was key. What he was able to share with the players, understanding what this city is all about, first of all. You talk to a lot of people when you start the process, you look at who’s out there as well, and slowly you start weeding them off and Rick Tocchet was always at the top of the list. You start digging in a little bit more of what he’s done after his career, he was always around the league, around different NHL teams, he was learning. He tried different positions. The thing that kept coming back, especially from people that had played for him, was how much they loved playing for him. They would go through the wall for him. A lot of guys would say, you feel listened to, you never feel that you’re in charge. He’s in charge of the locker room of what he wants, but everybody gets to be listened to. So those are the things we looked at. I was really impressed with his coaching in Arizona, and people were like, ‘well, his record wasn’t so good, but he coached a bunch of young players.’ Arizona at the time were a rebuilding team, and that’s kind of where we were. We had a lot of young players coming up. So it was important to get a coach that would let them play, that would try to acclimate to what we had coming in. That was one of the big reasons for me that I felt Rick Tocchet was the right coach. Practice if over, most of the coaches I’ve been around in my career, as soon as the last whistle goes, they’re off the ice and they’re gone. Rick is on the ice, spends time with the players, works on different skills with everybody, so it was refreshing to see.”

On what positions he would like to improve in the offseason:

“Obviously we’ve never hidden behind the fact that we’d like a number one center. We did it by committee. Those guys last year, Trevor Zegras, [Christian] Dvorak, [Noah] Cates, [Sean] Couturier, the job that they’ve done was excellent. Sometimes a little unfair because all three, at times, were pushed into the number one center. It is what it is. We know we don’t have a Connor McDavid or Sidney Crosby on the team, but the depth that we were able to build with Cates elevating his game, Dvorak coming aboard and really blowing expectations out of the water, Trevor Zegras, we didn’t know what was going to happen after the last two seasons he had in Anaheim. I’ve got to give those guys credit for keeping us afloat and more than just afloat, getting us into the playoffs and beating Pittsburgh in the first round.”

On if Briere expects a new-look roster at the top of the lineup after the offseason:

“We don’t know for sure. We’re going to be looking. We’re going to try to improve if it’s possible, but there’s never any guarantee. Depends on the options that are there, what the cost is. We’ve said from the beginning, we’ve got to do it smartly. We don’t want to go out and sign players just to sign players and then be looking back and say we wish we wouldn’t have done that. So we want to make sure we do it the right way. We’ll look at every option but it doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily going to happen this summer.”

On if there’s a different outlook to the offseason with the free-agent market:

“That was going to be one of the options that we would look at. Like you said, most of those guys have already signed, but it was never just this one plan on free agents. There’s always trades, there’s different ways you can go about it. So we’re going to explore everything. We have cap space, we have a lot of good young players. We do have some high-end prospects and picks. I think we’re positioned really good to be aggressive if something interesting comes our way.”

On the power play and making improvements:

“That’s a good question. It’s one that we’ve been looking at now for the last few years. It’s not a secret, it wasn’t good enough. But on the flip side of things, you overachieve a little bit and then you look back and say, ‘oh my God, if the power play is clicking at 25 percent, you know that’s not going to be possible.’ The way I look at it is our special teams were not good enough, and we were able to get to the second round. So there’s an area there we can vastly improve that could take up to the next level. You hope the players we have can elevate, that they can improve their game. The addition of guys like Porter Martone and [Denver] Barkey, and [Alex] Bump, and there’s more coming as well. Maybe a guy like David Jiricek can help us with his big shot from the point. We’re hopeful that our young guys especially can improve and help us on the power play, but we’re also going to look out if there’s something or a player out there that can really help us take the next step. We’re going to dive into it.”

On Philadelphia becoming a more attractive destination:

“Just talking to general managers, talking to agents, when certain names come up, I know in the past, they always have to check part of their trade protection. In a lot of cases, they’d come back and say unfortunately he doesn’t want to go to Philly or he’s on no-trade protection. So it was kind of nice to have it a different way. The way our team is trending, the fact that Rick Tocchet is recognized around the league as a coach that players love playing for. I think players are paying attention to see the Flyers in the playoffs, to see how the crowd and the fans were supportive, those are all things that I believe make us more attractive than we were the five, six, seven years past.”

On eliminating the Penguins in the first round and the satisfaction of success in the playoffs:

“Yes, you always hope for, but you don’t know exactly how your young group of players are going to react. You never know exactly when they’re going to be ready to take a step. It’d be foolish to think in his first year pro we saw Denver Barkey at the size that he is, that we could envision him having such a big role coming in the second half of the year. Porter Martone, we didn’t expect him to come in and help us down the stretch and play as well as he did in the playoffs. Same goes for Alex Bump. There’s more good young players coming up, but how long is it going to take before they’re ready? We don’t know. We’re trying to protect them as much as possible and we hope they’re ready quicker than expected, but we’re a little bit at the mercy of that. So we’ll see. But beating Pittsburgh, oh my God, that was pretty special. I had three series against them in my playing days when I was with the Flyers, so there’s a special rivalry there. It’s an easy team to get up and play.”

On Dan Vladar being a mentor for younger goalies in the pipeline:

“Absolutely. Just the way he carried himself, the way he was in the locker room. You’ve heard coach Tocchet talk about him, how much of a leader he was this season. He was really impressive and how he conducted himself. The players loved him. He was one of our leaders even though he’s not wearing a letter. I could see that. He’d be a perfect guy down the road when those players are ready to mentor them. I have no doubt about it.”

You can watch the interview with Briere below, starting at the 1:36:00 mark.

Kevin Durso is Flyers insider for 97.3 ESPN. Follow him on social media @Kevin_Durso.