Danny Briere Announces Retirement

Briere spent 17 seasons in the NHL. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)

He played on five teams in 17 seasons.

But now, Danny Briere, the 37-year-old Gatineau, Quebec native is choosing to hang up the skates, citing “family first.”

Briere says that after a few seasons of bouncing around from team to team, the decision to retire was easy.

“It became tough when you’re sitting on the bench and you’re watching other guys,” he said. “I guess it’s the competitive side. I just wanted to be the guy making the play.”

At 5’9″, Briere was one of the smallest players to play in the NHL, but his postseason numbers weren’t small at all.  He’s most remembered for his numbers during the Flyers’ 2010 Stanley Cup run, where he scored 30 points, a team record for playoff points.  Four of his goals were game winners.

In the Flyers’ 4-3 win over the Bruins in Game Seven of the 2010 Eastern Conference Semis, Briere had a goal and an assist in a wild game.  The Broad Street Bullies were down 3-0 in the series and down 3-0 in the game until Briere scored the tying goal that started the Flyers’ comeback.

In addition to playing with the Flyers, where he was an All-Star, Briere also played for the (then Phoenix) Coyotes, Sabres, Canadiens and Avalanche.  He was an All-Star with the Sabres as well.  In his entire playoff career (124 games), he’s tallied up 53 goals and 116 points.

Is Voracek’s Extension Too Long?

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The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that they’ve signed right wing Jakub Voracek to an eight-year, $8.35 million per year contract extension.  The 25-year-old forward will be 33 when it expires.

Now, before you say “Toews and Kane got eight year extensions too, and you were okay with it!” you’re right.  I was.  Because Toews and Kane are guaranteed to be effective players for a full eight years.  Just looking at Patrick Kane play should be evidence of that.

Voracek isn’t guaranteed to do that.  He has great games and he’s a good player, but he doesn’t have the same output every game like Kane does.  He’s clutch and scores goals for the Flyers when they need it, but not every game.

The problem is that Voracek is an All-Star and the team’s leading scorer, and he’s the only one left on the Flyers that deserves and is due for an extension.  Sean Couturier has already been signed for eight years, Matt Read and Claude Giroux for four and eight respectively back in 2013, Wayne Simmonds for six in 2012 and Vincent Lecavalier is 35 and will probably be retiring soon, same thing with Mark Streit, who is a consistent goal scorer even at 37.  The only other Flyer I can think of that deserves an extension of this magnitude (well, maybe six years instead of eight) is defenseman Luke Schenn, who will be a UFA next season.  Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s two-year, $1.425 million extension should be higher; he’s a young offensive forward, which is what the Flyers need long-term.

Overall, I think the extension is too long and could go to players like Bellemare and Schenn instead.  I would of course keep Voracek–who wouldn’t?–but maybe for six or seven years and for about six million instead of eight years and $8.35 million.

Michal Neuvirth to Flyers

Bill Wippert | NHLI via Getty Images

In an effort to solve their unending goaltending woes, the Philadelphia Flyers signed Michal Neuvirth as a backup to Steve Mason for two years and $3.25 M.

While goaltending is a problem for Philadelphia and Neuvirth will alleviate some problems, what the Flyers need is scoring.  Players to back up Claude Giroux and to score goals.  But the more I consider this signing, the more I like it.  Mason is injury-prone, and Neuvirth will be a decent backup that could help the Flyers on the defensive end.

The bad part of this deal is that Neuvirth isn’t as reliable as Mason.  We saw this in Washington, when Braden Holtby showed him up.  The Flyers did much better last season with Mason in net, even holding their own against the Bruins until Brad Marchand scored those overtime goals to give the B’s the win.

The Flyers are a team on the brink of tanking.  Their goaltending has improved, but what they need is scorers because Giroux is not enough.

Game Recap: Flyers at Bruins

The Bruins celebrate Brad Marchand’s OT winner. (via @Germanbsfan on Twitter).

Zdeno Chara started things off in the first with a power play goal (what?) at 7:07, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

After a great pace by the Bruins, Jake Voracek does his Jake Voracek thing and ties the game on the power play for his 20th of the season at 9:43 of the second period.

A relatively quiet third period passed, until–and I  swear, Claude Julien and Michel Therrien are the same person, putting the 4th line out during crunch time–Chris VandeVelde scored to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.  That would be the final score.

But wait a minute!!!  What’s this???  Brad Marchand tied it at 19:46??  I can’t explain.

And then Marchand does it again and wins it 3-2 in OT!!  A much needed two points for the Bruins, who will face the Red Wings tomorrow.

 

Game Preview: Flyers at Bruins

Jared Wickerham/Getty Images. Obtained from boston.com.

After the hard-fought-but-still-ending-laughably game against Calgary, the Bruins look to redeem themselves with a Saturday matinee game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Bruins are looking for a series sweep of the Flyers.  They’ve won the first two.  The Flyers are coming off of a 3-1 win over St. Louis on Thursday night.  They’re 9-17-6 on the road, and I know the Bruins never do this, but they need to take advantage of this weakness (and also of Tuukka Rask’s .956 save percentage over the past two meetings between these two teams).

The Bruins are 3-4-3 in their last 10 games, and the Flyers are a good opportunity to better their record.

Game Preview: Bruins at Flyers

Jared Wickerham | Getty Images (via boston.com)

An important aspect about the Flyers is that, while they may be awful, they always have Wayne Simmonds.

The Flyers’ right wing brings his physicality to every game, and, while he’s at a -3 currently, he still has 16 goals in 41 games played this season.  He beats goalies with wristers so fast they don’t know what hit them.  What he takes in penalty minutes, he makes up for in power play goals; he has nine so far this season.

Other than Simmonds, the Flyers don’t have much of an offense except for Jakub Voracek, who sits at a +12 with 16 goals and 33 assists.  Even Vincent Lecavalier has lost the spark he had with the Lightning.  Other semi-notables include Matt Read, rookie Scott Laughton and Michael Raffl.

This game shouldn’t be too tough for the Bruins, and they should be able to make the Flyers pay easily.