No Undo Button: Flyers GM Daniel Briere Defines His Tenure

Daniel Briere gave his midseason address to the media today. There was a lack of new information provided that wasn’t shocking, but still impressive in its shallowness. I’m not going to insult your intelligence by pretending Danny gave us any kind of insight into his plans or ambitions for the team.

If you want to listen to the manifestation of total nothingness akin to a void yourself, here it is…

Flyers GM Daniel Briere Defines His Tenure

Editors Note: Is Danny Briere sick? He looks horrible lol.

But we’re going to focus on the rare glimpse of something that Danny unwittingly provided. He did–if only by total accident–provide significant insight into him. We learned who he is today, even if he didn’t mean to tell us.

“We’re not willing to give up on our future at this point. Yes, I realize it’s a glaring need we need to upgrade, but it has to make sense. I understand you guys want some work and you’d like to have a trade to keep you busy, but the reality is if we force something, after 2 weeks, we can’t press undo and start from scratch again, so we gotta be sure. Believe me we’re trying; we’re looking at everything that is out there that is available and we’re even asking some questions on some guys that aren’t available just to check in and make sure.”

First of all. As an aside, what a scumbag he is for acting as if it’s only the media who wants to see any action from the team. And furthermore, what a giant scumbag he is for acting as if the media would only want that because it’s good for business.

You know what’s good for business, you sanctimonious asshat? Covering any sport except hockey, the smallest of the four major sports. And yet, here people are, listening to you drivel on while you shiver and mewl like a mouse hoping he isn’t stepped on while trespassing in the kitchen.

Amid Daniel Briere’s unusual targeting of the media and dodging of the questions, however, he betrayed his fatal flaw very well. I wasn’t so exasperated by his sounding like he was a hostage filming a proof of life video as to miss that. Did you catch it?

“If we force something, after 2 weeks, we can’t press undo and start from scratch again, so we gotta be sure.”

And that’s Daniel Briere in a nutshell. Mousey Danny. He’s scared as hell. He’s deathly afraid of his own shadow. His tenure as GM is identical to the life tenure of those who stared into the eyes of Medusa: statuesque for the rest of eternity.

He’s not technically incorrect, of course. There is, as a matter of semantics, no undo button that would allow him to simply pretend a move never happened if he makes a move that he doesn’t believe in. But that’s the problem. He won’t ever believe fully in a move. Do you know why?

Daniel Briere knows there’s “no undo button.”

He’s kept up at night by the thought of making a decision with enormous ramifications. He refuses to act because, deep down, he doesn’t really believe in himself. It has nothing to do with the trade itself.

The offer is probably fair. There are surely plenty of trades out there that “make sense” for the organization. But no trade will “make sense” for this broken, hollow shell of a man. Because he’s afraid.

This is what happens when someone is groomed for a position in which they have zero real experience, and they aren’t wired to do the job.

A talented executive of anything–be it a hockey team or a lemonade stand–can make massive decisions with world-altering ramifications and not be paralyzed by the enormity of the choice before them.

Danny isn’t that guy. He told us that today. He wrapped up with a shot at the media, which by the way, has been so kind to him as to reasonably be called sycophantic. He bit the hand that fed him today.

It made sense that he was willing to lash out at the media, of course. He has no power over the media. Likewise, he has no power over Team Canada at World Juniors. But he made SURE to complain about them.

When asked about Jett Luchanko, he spoke very little about his actual evaluation of the player, but he had a lot to say about Team Canada:

“We’re happy with his progress. He’s playing a lot. You know, for the world juniors, playing for Canada, we were disappointed with the role they gave him. When you look at the role they gave him, he performed great. We have higher expectations for him. You know, he’s probably the best skater in the tournament and he barely played. But that’s their decision.”

On the subject of Oliver Bonk, Daniel Briere was similarly quick to lash out at Team Canada:

“He had a big role, but they put him in positions which wasn’t really his strength. Which was really weird to us.”

Now, this is patently absurd to me. Danny Briere wants to opine on the operations of Team Canada. He has no control over this, but he absolutely has control over his own organization.

And yet, he allows John Tortorella to play Matvei Michkov 14 minutes a night. Matvei Michkov is the box office attraction. He is the reason people watch. He is the reason you sell tickets. And despite raking in money on his name, you ALLOW your own head coach to use him in such a ridiculous manner? You allow your head coach to effectively scam fans?

He has direct control over what Torts does and doesn’t do. He has the authority to fire John Tortorella tomorrow. Not only does he not do that, but he doesn’t even express dissatisfaction with the errors in usage occurring on his own team.

But he has a lot to say about Team Canada’s usage? By the way, if a lot of people got their way, Team Canada would have used Jett Luchanko in a different role. His new role would be… none at all.

He would be replaced by Michael Misa, or Michael Hage, or Andrew Cristall, or a number of players more skilled than he is.

He wants to lash out at the media. He wants to lash out at Team Canada. And why does he do this stuff? Why does he lash out at things he has no control over, despite being the GM of an NHL team where he has almost unilateral control?

It’s because he’s unraveling. It’s actually a little sad to watch. My best piece of advice for him, at this point, is to resign. Give up the title. The Flyers will take care of you, Danny. Find something you’re good at. Find something that doesn’t haunt your dreams and turn your stomach. Being an executive doesn’t suit you, and that’s okay.

But someone needs that title who can handle it, and today, Daniel Briere showed that the title is consuming him.

Or more accurately, one thought is what’s devouring him.

“There’s no undo button.”

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