BREAKING NEWS: Flyers Part Ways with Chuck Fletcher, Danny Briere Interim GM

After rumblings this morning that "big changes" were coming in he Flyers front office as soon as today, it was just announced the Flyers have decided to part ways with General Manager Chuck Fletcher. Former Flyers forward Danny Briere will take over for the remainder of the season as the "Interim" General Manager.

The Flyers brought Briere into their front on February 9, 2022. Upon doing so they created a brand new title for his position, calling him "The Special Assistant to the General Manager". This position title does not exist literally anywhere else outside the Flyers organization, which automatically led many to believe the Flyers were setting the former player up to be heir to the Flyers GM throne if/when Fletcher finally did get relieved of his duties.

In his first media availability after being placed in this new special assistant position last year, Briere recognized publicly that the Flyers need to look at getting more "high end talent" in order to fix the mess they currently find themselves in.


One big question is, if this was on the horizon for awhile, and all signs and reports point to it having been in the plans for awhile now, why did the ownership group leave Fletcher at the helm for last weeks trade deadline? Fans will always be left to wonder if Briere would or could have been able to work a JvR trade, or literally any other potential asset return trade, for that matter.

The next question, which kind of piggybacks off of the last one is, can Briere - with the help of the Flyers scouting staff, which many also believe is a big problem that needs to be overhauled in this organization - legitimately spot the "high-end talent" he spoke about in that first interview and go out and acquire them, whether that be in the draft, on the trade front or even(on the rare occasion) on the free agent market? These are things that will be learned in time, I suppose, but until then we're left to wonder.

For now though, they have placed the "interim" tag before Breire's title. It is believed to be a "formality" more so than anything. This will be Briere's first crack at being a GM in the higher professional leagues, even in interim circumstances. Back in 2018/19 it was announced he'd over see the day to day oppositions(AKA General Manager) for the ECHL's Portland Maine Mariners which was a team also owned and operated by Comcast/Xfinity, but not much was truly ever reported on that, so I can't find anything to suggest how he'll do in his new role for the Flyers. We'll have to wait and see what he's able to do and whether or not they ultimately remove the "interim" tag come the off-season.

Briere will begin his new assignment with the Flyers in Pittsburgh, where he is set to join the team today as they prepare for their 3:30PM tilt with the Penguins tomorrow afternoon.

Many say this move is change purely for the sake of change and until they tear it all down nothing will change, but I personally will reserve judgement for now.