Revisiting GM Danny Briere's First Flyers Trade, 2 Years Later
Philadelphia Flyers GM Danny Briere has seen and done it all during his brief time in charge of his former team, and his first piece of business is looking like his best so far.
On June 6, 2023, two years ago yesterday, Briere made his first trade as the general manager of the Flyers, sending Ivan Provorov and Hayden Hodgson to the Los Angeles Kings (and then the Columbus Blue Jackets) in exchange for what would become Oliver Bonk, Helge Grans, the 22nd overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, Cal Petersen, and Carson Bjarnason.
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Petersen's albatross contract has, of course, expired, leaving the Flyers with just the good stuff: a great goalie prospect in Bjarnason, an NHL-caliber defenseman with an elite toolkit in Grans, a promising potential top-four defender in Bonk, and a first-round pick that became much higher than expected as the fruits of the Sean Walker trade.
In the last two years, Briere has swung his fair share of deals, like the Cutter Gauthier one that yielded Jamie Drysdale, and the other that offloaded Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost for diminishing returns.
Bringing in Grans, Walker, and other draft picks has proven to be one of Briere's best moves so far, if not the very best.
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The 22nd pick in this year's draft, whether used on a prospect or traded for future-facing roster player, will assuredly aid the Flyers in taking the next step.
With an extended opportunity at the start of the upcoming season, Grans, 23, could replace the older, more expensive, and oft-injured Rasmus Ristolainen, though he'll have to earn his place on the NHL roster.
The same is true of Bonk, a back-to-back OHL champion and Memorial Cup winner who will be starting his professional career in the Flyers organization this fall.
Provorov, since leaving Philadelphia, has scored a total of 65 points in Columbus while playing in all 82 regular season games two years in a row. Despite that, the Flyers' former top draft pick and his Blue Jackets have yet to make the playoffs.
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For Briere, this trade was an easy win at the time and is looking even better with the time that has already passed.
The future will decide what happens next, but the Flyers have all the pieces in place to take multiple successful steps forward on the backs of the assets they acquired in Briere's first deal as Flyers GM.
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The Red Wings aren't stuck yet, but this is a huge year for them to show more tangible progress and take the next step. The pressure is real. Why do people think the Bruins have a shot at being good? As a fan, I would love it, but to see their 'upgrades' in the offseason I think we're relying on the top line to score us goals and nothing else. Feels like a recipe for disaster, especially with all these so-called tough guys that are going to make them tough to play against. That won't matter if we don't score any goals. I just don't understand it honestly and some national writers are believing they'll bounce back. They are a worse team than last year all over. — Jacob M. I'll be shocked if they're not better than last season, although that's not saying much. Boston cratered so hard at the end of the year that they finished with the NHL's fourth-worst record, better than only Nashville, Chicago and San Jose. 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I know the Capitals' surprising rise has a lot of GMs believing in a retool versus a rebuild, so I suspect we'll see more teams try to go down that path, but most of those clubs feel likely to get stuck being just okay and not really competing for a Cup. Boston feels like they're about to be part of that trend, especially given how they spent their limited free agent dollars last month. Advertisement Hard to believe, given that the Bruins ran away with the Presidents' Trophy only two years ago. With NCAA players eligible for pay and the majority of draftees not league ready anyways, would there be a desire to raise the draft age so teams could see more immediate returns on draft picks? — Jack H. I've long been of the mind that the change that would make sense would be to allow 18-year-olds to only be drafted in the first round. That way the elite players who will have a chance to play in the NHL right away can still get a pro home at a young age, but everyone else has to wait for another year of development. How many players picked beyond the top 32 picks make the NHL right after being drafted anyway? Almost none. And teams tend to have a very hard time projecting a lot of 18-year-old players, especially at notoriously hard-to-project positions like in goal. Such a change could up the degree of difficulty for teams given that they'll have to decide between players of different age groups. Do you use your first-rounder on a 19-year-old who is more of a sure thing or take a bet on upside with a younger pick? That said, I'm looking at this from the perspective of someone whose primary focus is covering the NHL. I was curious what one of our prospect writers thought, so I sent Scott Wheeler a note on this earlier this week. He doesn't agree that a change is needed. 'Teams do a pretty good job with all of the available resources now identifying the kids who will play, even at 18,' Wheeler explained, noting how few good players actually get missed in the early rounds and are taken late. 'Those players also create interest from fans and revenue for the lower levels of the pyramid in junior and college once they're tied to an organization for longer. I think the 18-year-old draft is good for the sport across levels.' Advertisement The other thing that Scott pointed out is that with the new CBA changing to a system where every drafted player's rights are now held until they're 22 years old, it makes it a more level playing field for players coming from the various leagues. 'The kids who were getting hurt (by an 18-year-old draft) — CHL players who teams had to decide on quickly — will now have more time to showcase themselves,' he said. 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There was talk at the combine that perhaps GM Kyle Davidson would be really aggressive, throwing huge money at the Marners of the world, but instead they've left open nearly $20 million in cap space to try and accumulate future assets and aim for a rise up the standings in another couple years. It's going to mean a frustrating season at times for players like Connor Bedard, but trying to fast-track what they're doing there could have been a disaster. As mentioned with the Red Wings, it's a long road going full-rebuild in the NHL right now, even if everything breaks your way and you win some lotteries. If Chicago had signed a big-name UFA this summer, that huge-salaried star could be well onto the wrong side of the aging curve by the time they're ready to contend and still making big money. Contrast that with the upside of adding another pick at the top of a strong 2026 draft, and it's a no-brainer decision. Advertisement I think Chicago will be closer to the 70-75 points range than the 61 they had last year, but that likely still puts them bottom three, given that basically no one around them is trying to bottom out and be bad. (Which could change early in the year with Gavin McKenna as the prize at first overall.) Our Blackhawks expert Scott Powers concurs. 'I think it's between them and San Jose for the bottom of the league,' Powers said. 'The defense will be so young. Even if Bedard and Frank Nazar take significant steps, there are still questions where enough offense will come from. They could be better than expected because they have a lot of potential promising pieces, even in net, and new coach Jeff Blashill's effect is unknown, but it still feels early for them to turn the corner and nearly every other team is trying to win now.' Thanks for reading. As mentioned, I have a few more of these queued up, so stay tuned for that. Plus, sign up for our hockey newsletter for more similar content from myself and Sean McIndoe all year. (Top photo of Aaron Ekblad: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
