The Case For Flyers GM Daniel Briere To Be Named General Manager Of The Year

The NHL season is winding down, which means it's time to start looking ahead to some awards.

One that doesn't garner a ton of pontificating is the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, but I think we need to talk about it.

Specifically, the case for giving it to Philadelphia Flyers GM Daniel Briere.

Look, I know what you're thinking. If you've been ‘round these parts long enough, you’ll know I'm a Flyers fan. 

Hear me out: it has been a wild year for Danny B, and not just because his son threw a lady's wheelchair down a set of stairs for no reason.

The Flyers have been a tough nut to crack for years. They've drafted well, but neither of the previous two GMs — Ron Hextall and Chuck Fletcher — were able to crack it.

There were questions about how the team handled player development, head-scratching trades and signing, and a general sense that the team lacked direction.

Fletcher got a pink slip handing the reins to Briere and new team president Keith Jones last spring, and immediately there was a direction. They wanted to take the team back to its roots, even changing the jerseys and shade of orange to the tea,'s classic burnt orange from the '80s and '90s.

Still, Briere made it abundantly clear: the team is rebuilding.

However, the Flyers proved to be way better than anticipated, and look primed to make the postseason unless they completely fall apart (I've seen this movie before folks). 

That meant Briere had to decide what to do at the deadline when it came to continuing the rebuild or trying to make a playoff push.

He did both. He flipped Sean Walker — a solid second or third-pair D-man — for a first-rounder. He then extended Walker's old partner Nick Seeler's contract and traded for veteran defenseman and former No. 1 pick Erik Johnson.

However, what I think has been most impressive about Briere's first full season is how he has managed three unusual strange situations involving players.

Daniel Briere has faced some highly unusual situations in his first full season as Flyers general manager. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Danny Briere's Hat Trick Of Bizarre Personnel Situations

The first was the shocking decision to trade top prospect Cutter Gauthier. Alright, it wasn't much of a decision — Gauthier wouldn't talk to the Flyers — but they made the best of it by sending his rights to the Ducks in exchange for defenseman Jamie Drysdale. To Briere's and the organization's credit, they were very transparent about why the deal had to happen once it was complete.

Then there's the Carter Hart situation. Hart is one of five current and former NHLers charged with sexual assault in connection with an incident that is alleged to have occurred in 2018.

That meant that the player who was intended to be the Flyers' franchise goalie, was out of commission, possibly for good depending on how things shake out in the Canadian court of law.

Then, just this week, the team finally managed to bring netminder Ivan Fedotov to the States after the 27-year-old was forced into military service in 2022, and then a dispute over his contract status with the KHL's CSKA Moscow.

CSKA terminated his contract on Thursday, and on Friday he was sitting next to Daniel Briere and being introduced as a Flyer.

Briere declined to get into details about how the Flyers finally managed to bring their 2015 pick to Philly, but the point is they did it.

That is an absolutely insane set of circumstances to face in your first year on the job. On top of that, the Flyers exceeded expectations in a big way this season.

We won't find out the nominees for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, but I think Briere should definitely be a finalist…

…and not just because I'm a Flyers fan; did you read what I just wrote?!