Danny Briere is the Flyers highest paid player currently on the roster but has missed most of this season due to injury.
There is absolutely no question that the Flyers can win games. Tonight they welcomed a hot Atlanta Thrashers team to the Wachovia Center once again ending the Thrashers winning streak and sending them packing. It marks the 12th straight win for backup goaltender Antero Niittymaki against his childhood rival Kari Lehtonen, star goaltender for the Thrashers, while in the NHL. Niitty’s success is not all due to his own play however. He has a deadly offense in front of him to thank for keeping the pressure on the Thrashers who despite their winning ways lately have struggled relatively all season.
The win, though it gives the team a chance to rest with the upcoming All-Star break, will not be celebrated by the entire team. The star center that the Flyers had acquired after a dreadful 2006-07 last place finish was once again out of the lineup. The highest paid player on the squad has been out the majority of the season only managing to suit up for 9 games. In those 9 games he has accounted for 5 goals and 4 assists proving he is just as big a part of this offense as ever, but even without him the Flyers continue to put up points; a testament to just how scary this offense can be when healthy. Briere had been sent to the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms for a conditioning stint starting a week ago and managed 5 points in 3 games while leading the Phantoms to victories in all 3 contests. There were of course reports that Briere would be able to play tonight against the Thrashers, but it was not to be. His groin suffered a major relapse sending the center to surgery once more, this time for exploratory surgery on January 22nd. With that Paul Holmgren claims that Briere will be out for another two weeks minimum. After making so much progress with his injury anyone would be frustrated about not being able to rejoin his team.
While Briere’s injury keeps the lineup from its full potential it does buy Holmgren some much needed time. Recently there has been speculation as to what the Flyers General Manager would be able to do with Briere rejoining the lineup. The Flyers would be sent into a cap crunching war that would send players elsewhere whether to the Phantoms or even to other teams by way of trade. With Briere’s cap hit being worth $6.5 million it has been estimated that the Flyers will need to remove a little over $2 million before the center can rejoin the lineup. Though Holmgren has been given this extra time don’t expect him to be thankful for it. He would much rather see the players he signed performing well on the ice rather than on the table in surgery.
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There are rumors floating around that the Flyers are making a push to acquire defenseman Paul Ranger from the Tampa Bay Lightning and Peter Forsberg, who knows the Flyers organization well and remains a free agent due to foot and ankle issues. Paul Ranger is a young offensive defenseman with a small cap hit and a big upside which would make sense for the Flyers. Unfortunately he will likely come at a price. Forsberg on the other hand will also have his price, but what the Flyers would be losing in order to acquire his services is cap space. Many are unsure of whether one of the league’s biggest names will even fit under the salary cap. If Briere is not able to return for the rest of the season for whatever reason expect for Paul Holmgren to lay all of his cards on the table in order to bring Forsberg back to Philadelphia.
