Danny Brière spent the opening day of NHL free agency making a point the Flyers have been pushing for a while now: the big move matters, but only if it fits the plan.
That’s why Wednesday in Philadelphia was more about continuity than fireworks. The Flyers finalized Dan Vladar’s five-year extension, locked up Tyson Foerster on an eight-year deal at a $7 million annual salary, and added pieces that fit the edges of the roster.
Noel Acciari comes in as a heavy, hard-skating bottom-six center to help replace Garnet Hathaway and, likely, Luke Glendening. Carl Grundstrom was brought back on a one-year deal for more speed down the lineup.
A few smaller signings were also made with the Phantoms in mind more than the NHL club.
The splash fans had been waiting for never came.
Not in free agency. Not via trade.
Not through an offer sheet on a name like Leo Carlsson or Connor Bedard. Zach Werenski stayed in Columbus.
Shane Pinto and Dylan Cozens looked set to remain in Ottawa. Mavrik Bourque was dealt from Dallas to Nashville while the Stars continued working on Jason Robertson.
And the Flyers, like everyone else, never made the massive swing.
That doesn’t mean Brière was ignoring the market. He said Wednesday there have been discussions with free-agent defenseman John Carlson after his rights expired with Carolina, and with former captain Claude Giroux about a possible reunion.
Still, the overall picture looked a lot like the one the Flyers finished last season with: a young team, a growing core, and patience still driving the decision-making.
“Because we understand the expectations are gonna go way higher coming into next season,” Brière told reporters at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees after the team wrapped its Day 1 work. “And there's always a danger.
There's a little bit of a pullback. It's not like we ran away with it last year.
We got hot at the right time and snuck into the playoffs, and played really well in the first round. I thought we played extremely hard, even in the second round, but we ran into a very good team.
“It’s a fine line. We’ve preached patience from the start of this, like three years ago, and that’s the fine line that we’re trying to stay on.”
That line gets trickier as the roster gets better. The Flyers have spent the past several years leaning into the draft and taking calculated risks in trades, and the result is a group that now looks legitimately young and promising: Foerster, Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale are part of that growing foundation.
Brière’s point is that this group, with some veteran support, has already reached a stage where it can compete for a playoff spot. That doesn’t mean the organization has to rush into the kind of move that could derail the bigger picture.
“We're giving the chance [for] our young guys to get better,” Brière said. “It paid off last year, but we want to try to help them, and that's where the, you know, the Wolls, the Simon Benoits, the Acciaris today, that's where they come into play. You try to help with small steps here and there, and if we have the chance to take a big leap, we will jump on it.”
For now, though, the Flyers are still in the middle of that process. Brière made clear he sees room for growth, but also room for a step back next season after the club’s strong finish last year.
“I’m excited about the way our team played in the second half last year, and that’s... I think it’s dangerous because I’m talking, like, from the fan standpoint,” Brière said.
“It was so good the way the season ended. It was on a high.
So you gotta be careful, even from our side, to not get disappointed because there's nothing that happened today that was a huge flash.
“If we have a chance, we'll jump on it. But I think this team is going in the right direction.
I'm really excited about the future of this team. We're still one of the youngest teams in the NHL.
We took a big step forward last year, and, you know, there's a chance - and a good chance - that we take a little bit of a step back this year. We're ready for that.
But I'm excited where this young group of guys are going.”
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Dan Vladar and Porter Martone have also become important parts of that equation, not just for what they do on the ice but for the tone they help set in a room that is starting to believe it belongs here again. Vladar has been one of the voices behind the push, while Martone has embraced a leadership role that matters for younger players coming through the system, and the next question for the Flyers is how far this chemistry can take them once the games get tighter and the margin for error disappears. [Read more 🡒]