So, Danny Briere is now up for grabs, after being bought out this week by the Philadelphia Flyers. Would you like to see him in a Canadiens uniform?
Thanks…but no thanks.
It was six years ago, almost to the day, that Bob Gainey went hard after Danny Briere: the summer of 2007. And I mean hard.
Briere was coming off a 95-point season with the Buffalo Sabres and was ready to write his own ticket. And he did.
A ticket that took him to Philadelphia after he rejected Gainey’s overtures.
I remember thinking at the time: Jeez. How much money are you supposed to throw at the guy before he said “Yes.”
Briere never said “yes”…not to the Montreal Canadiens, at least. And I thought to myself: see ya.
Gainey wasn’t shy when it came to going after big-name talent: either through free agency or the trade route. However,
like he always said: it takes two to tango: either way. Briere preferred to tango with the Flyers, where he put up some fairly prolific number before the injury bug got the better of him. However, with two years left in his contract, the Flyers elected to by out the 35-year old: a move that will shave $6.5 million off their salary cap.
Briere figures he still has a year or two left of hockey in him as he looks ahead to life as an unrestricted free agent. Who am I to doubt the guy? I wish him nothing but the best.
He’d like to stay in the East for family reasons: and with two kids in school, who can blame him? But the Canadiens don’t need Danny Briere any more than they “needed” Jaromir Jagr. And please. Don’t tell me that even if Briere coasts through the regular season, you can count on him in the playoffs.
You think so?
I don’t.
See ya.
HEFTER ON THE HABS 