- Danny Briere says the Flyers will keep trying to improve after re-signing Trevor Zegras
- The GM hinted at a move that could eat up Philadelphia’s remaining cap space
- Read below for what Briere said and where the Flyers still need help
Danny Briere isn’t finished.
The Flyers general manager made that clear Thursday, a day after re-signing Trevor Zegras and two weeks after his $90 million offer sheet on Leo Carlsson got matched by Anaheim. Briere told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman that Philadelphia is still hunting.
“The players did their part last year, and we’re trying to do ours,” Briere said. “We’re going to keep trying to improve the team to give them the best chance to be a contender for years to come.”
Zegras was the first order of business. He signed a four-year, $36.5 million deal on Wednesday to avoid an arbitration hearing, coming off a career year of 26 goals and 67 points in 81 games that helped snap Philadelphia’s five-year playoff drought.
Philadelphia welcomed him back:
That deal still leaves Philadelphia around $22 million under the salary cap, with defenseman Jamie Drysdale the only key player left to sign. Briere sounded like a man planning to spend it.
Asked about that flexibility, he didn’t hide his intentions. “Yes, we’re looking to do different things. I’m not saying it’s going to work, but yeah, there’s different things we’re looking at that might eat up our salary cap,” he said. Most free agents are already off the board, so the obvious route left is a trade.
Briere has been open about the biggest hole on the roster being a No. 1 center. That’s why he swung so hard on the Carlsson offer sheet. The miss stung, but it didn’t change the plan.
Another target is the power play, which has finished last in the NHL four times in the past five seasons, including last year at 15.7 percent. Briere said he already took a run at fixing it.
“We took some swings there, too,” he said. “I unfortunately can’t get into details because players are elsewhere, but we took some swings there. We tried to improve the power play. We’re going to keep looking.”
Briere laid out the same aggressive approach when he met with reporters to open free agency:
Drysdale’s arbitration window runs from July 20 to August 1. Until that gets settled, Briere is sitting on cap room, a stated need at center, and no plan to stay quiet.
