Overpriced and Under Qualified?

Many including myself were psyched when Danny Briere was signed a couple years back. Coming off a hot 95 point season he and former teammate Chris Drury were the top centers in the free agent market. But looking back, how smart was the contract given to Briere? Homer doest exactly have a great track record when it comes to long term contracts and extensions. Lets take a look at the details; $52 million over 8 years. Such a big contract for a small guy one would have to imagine.

Listed at 5’10” 179 lbs, he isn’t the biggest guy out there. For a contract as big as his, I would expect consistent play from him throughout his career, but, Briere has only played one full season in the 11 he has participated in. Having scored 60 or more points only 4 times and 30 or more goals just twice in that time. With those stats and a cap hit of $6.5 million the overpriced part speaks for itself. I mean look at the other top centers out there with a hit that big; Joe Thornton $7.2 million against the cap with a couple 100 point seasons, one of which he amassed 92 assists. Pavel Datsyuk $6.7 million to the cap with 85+ points 4 consecutive years and counting. Needless to say Detroit and San Jose run a western offense and rely on number one centers a little more than the east but know that Briere isn’t the number one center in Philly. Mike Richards is number one as captain. Can we even call Briere a number two center? Not in my eyes after Jeff Carter’s 46 goal performance last season. This is where the under qualified kicks in.

Now I’m not saying that I had a hidden piece of information that Jeff Carter would be a 40 goal scorer when we signed Briere but I am saying that we all knew that Richards and Carter would be getting large raises in the very near future but still gave Briere such a huge contract. Richards’ 12 year $69 million dollar extension shot his cap hit up to $5.75 million and Carter’s 3 year $15 million extension put him up to $5 million to the cap. After Jason Smith walked in free agency and they stitched the “C” on Richie’s jersey, I figured he was top line center which bumped Briere down to number 2. Then Briere fell to a groin injury which opened the door for Carter to tear up the defense of our enemies. After the mediocre at best play of Andreas Nodl, we brought up the QMJHL phenom Claude Giroux. Carter’s scoring touch and Giroux’s raw talent to make a whole lot of something out of a big pile of nothing was just amazing to watch. Then the un-drafted free agent Darroll Powe started to make his mark. Not with a bunch of goals or assists, but with the play they traded away with Scottie Upshall. I like to call him a spark plug. He is pretty much the guy that gets the call to create some momentum with his speed. So without Briere in the mix, the Flyers really had 4 solid center men. Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux, and Darroll Powe. Along with Briere and young center Jared Ross to be thrown into the mix soon.

Powe, Richards, and Carter are all centers but Giroux and Briere play the wing also. This makes endless options for the Flyers to use these 6. There was no question after witnessing what G could do with the puck, once Briere was healthy again at the end of the season Stevens and Homer would put the two together. With the two center men on one line, face-offs would get easier, you have two guys that could switch spots throughout the game at will, and they seemed to share a certain link within their play. Briere isn’t exactly a finisher by any means but Giroux could turn any player into a finisher with his talent. So I began to look into the trade possibilities for Briere thinking that we no longer had a need for a $6 million dollar third line center, I had to stop myself. First, I actually thought past the fact of Briere playing center and remembered that Mike Knuble walked in free agency. This opened the door for a new right winger and I don’t think I’m the only one who liked Briere playing right wing with Richie and Gagne on the top line. Then I dug into the numbers Briere had last year. 25 points in 29 games isn’t exactly shabby. So I settled on giving Danny one more season and I think the rest of us die hard Flyer fans should too. Without injury or controversy and with Claude Giroux, Mike Richards, and/or Simon Gagne, Briere’s play can do nothing but improve. After this season passes us by and Briere has done the same or worse, I probably would still give him the benefit of the doubt for his play here. After all this is Buffalo. We have enough depth that we can win games without Danny Briere. But no matter what anyone has to say about that, it always helps to have him healthy and in the lineup. Enjoy the rest of your night and LETS GO FLYERS!!