NHL Rumors: Boston Bruins Ask About Danny Briere

By Emma Harger
Christopher Szagola-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Flyers are certainly willing to make a deal if the price is right, seeing as they just swapped a draft pick with the Los Angeles Kings for the return of Simon Gagne. They probably aren’t done dealing guys yet, but I was very surprised and confused to hear that Danny Briere is the newest target of trade chatter–especially when I learned that the Boston Bruins are among the teams that are rumored to be interested in him.

The idea of Briere playing somewhere else for the first time since the 2006-07 season seems farfetched at best no matter what team is interested in him. In fact, he’s done everything he can to prevent being sent anywhere else, even to the AHL, without his express permission. He has a no-movement clause and doesn’t seem particularly interested in waiving it to go anywhere.

“Trades are not my department. I’ve been a Flyer for a long time. My heart belongs in Philadelphia with the Flyers. I can’t see myself playing anywhere else,” he said, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

In his case, he’d have to uproot his family and then the Flyers would be short an alternate captain until they could find a replacement. Plus, Claude Giroux would be without his good friend and onetime roommate/landlord. Considering that they both went to the same team during the lockout when they had a wealth of possible choices, the idea of splitting them up seems somewhat blasphemous.

This is the third name I’ve heard thrown around in the context of “imagine him in the Black and Gold,” but none of the trio have held any interest in my eyes. The other two are Daniel Alfredsson and Jarome Iginla. Do you see a pattern there? Not only are all three of these players older, but all three of them are so closely identified with the teams they currently play for that it would be practically criminal to take them away from their current fan bases.

Can you imagine the Calgary Flames without Iginla, not in the context of his retirement, but in the context of him playing somewhere else? Or the Ottawa Senators fan base not being able to cheer on “Alfie” because he’s wearing the Spoked B? It feels as wrong to me as seeing the word Pepsi done up in the swirly cursive lettering associated with Coca-Cola.

Besides, since it’s “what’s old is new again” week in the NHL in terms of trades (see also Michael Ryder), I’d rather see Peter Chiarelli make a play to trade for Blake Wheeler–or maybe Phil Kessel. I’m just kidding about that last one.

That being said, I remember hearing that Chiarelli saw the Flyers at some point recently, meaning he might be shopping for a trade. However, I still think that if he’s going to go down to Broad Street for a trade, he will look to someone other than Briere. The fit just isn’t right at all with him.

 

Emma Harger is a Boston Bruins and NHL writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow her on Twitter, like her on Facebook and add her to your network on Google.

 

Share On FacebookShare StumbleUpon

You May Also Like