PHILADELPHIA, Pa – Although he is in second place in NHL playoffs scoring this year and has already racked up six points in the Stanley Cup Finals, people often times overlook Philadelphia Flyers’ center Daniel Briere. Briere is not the biggest player on the ice, in fact on many nights he is the smallest, yet with 81 points in 83 career playoff games, he often comes up the biggest. Game 3 of the Finals was a prime example of Briere’s talent level and how he can be overlooked. Briere scored the game’s first goal as he anticipated the Blackhawks defense would flood over to Scott Hartnell.
In overtime, Briere keyed the winning goal when he used his on-ice vision to find defenseman Matt Carle joining the play. Carle fired the puck on goal and it was deflected past Chicago goaltender Antti Niemi by Claude Giroux.
In both cases, Briere was the reason the goal was scored, yet listening to the announcers talk it was as if Briere was merely an afterthought. And despite the fact he is nearly a point-per-game player in the playoffs he is seldom mentioned as a clutch playoff performer. Lack of recognition and sometimes absolute skepticism of his abilities is something Briere has fought his entire professional career. Right from the beginning people were downplaying his ability to succeed in the NHL and even his first NHL club, the Phoenix Coyotes did not give him full-time NHL ice time for years.
Since then Briere has gone on to great heights and he earned a mega-million free agency contract from the Philadelphia Flyers. But the road has not been easy to playoff stardom and if the Flyers win the Stanley Cup Briere could very well win the league’s most prestigious individual award, the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Briere’s professional story goes back to late September of 1997 and the then 20-year old was anxious. It was deadline day for him to sign a professional contract and if he did not sign the contract he would be sent back to junior hockey for the 1997-98 season. Briere’s signing was not a matter of dollars and cents.
His talent in the other team’s zone was obvious, but there were those in the NHL, and some in the Coyotes organization who thought Briere was too small and would be a defensive liability. As you can probably imagine that was not a good tag to have hung on you during the “dead-puck” era, especially on a team which featured defense.
So here I was chatting with him after a Coyotes practice and we were waiting to see what would happen. Briere scored 163 points for the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs during the 1995-96 season, good enough to earn a first round selection by the Coyotes in the 1996 draft. He was unable to crack the club in his first training camp and had answered that disappointment with a 130 point season back in Drummondville. As we spoke Briere told me it would be a waste of time to go back to junior hockey and he was ready to turn pro.
Eventually Bobby Smith, the Coyotes GM at the time, came over to us and said he needed to speak to Danny. I asked Briere if he could give me an update after he spoke with Smith. I could see the two talking in the arena press box and eventually they finished. The news was good said Briere, he had indeed signed, the money was good and he was not going to have to go back to junior.
“It was somewhat of a risk,” Smith said during Briere’s rookie season. “But, at the same time, there were a lot of organizations, ours included, that felt he actually was the best player in the entire draft.”
However Briere’s career with the Coyotes would not be a fairy-tale one. If Phoenix thought he was “the best player in the draft” they sure were keeping that belief held close to the vest. Briere would spend the next four years bouncing between the NHL and the minors before finally breaking in full-time during the 2001-02 season.
Briere only lasted with Phoenix until the March 2003 trading deadline before he was packaged to the Buffalo Sabres with a draft pick for Chris Gratton and a draft pick. While the Coyotes had struck gold selecting Briere in 1996 they whiffed on his trade. Many hold this trade up as a absolute steal for Buffalo and a disastrous one for the Coyotes.
Briere broke out in western New York as he had two solid playoffs with the club and a season in which he registered 95 points during his walk year 2006-07. Far from being a player who slid all the way to the 24th pick in the draft, Briere was one of, if not the marquee unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2007.
In the end, Briere narrowed his choices down to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers. The Rangers decided to sign Chris Drury and Scott Gomez instead of Briere. Now down to two serious contenders, his hometown Montreal Canadiens and the Flyers, in the end Briere came to Philadelphia.
Briere thought Philadelphia was the team closer to winning and the Flyers already had several of his close friends on the roster already.
Briere’s choice was not without controversy as the Canadiens fans were outraged and have subsequently booed him at every turn. Yet the 33-year old has been spot on in his prediction as the Flyers have indeed advanced further in the playoffs over the past three years. Ironically on two separate occasions it has been the Flyers who have eliminated the Habs from the playoffs.
NHL observers have marveled at the Flyers resiliency this season. Just when things seem the darkest the club snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. I will not pretend to know the insides and outs of the Flyers dressing room, but I would venture a guess that Briere is a large part of the reason the Flyers are what they are. After all, he’s been fighting against the odds for his entire career.
Contact Tom.Schettino@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.