Prospering with Prospal
Last summer on the first day of the NHL's free agency period the Flyers made a big splash when they signed Briere to an eight-year, $52 million contract. Huge bucks for a skilled but undersized center and the value of the deal put the Philly spotlight squarely on Briere, who was coming off a career year in Buffalo with 95 points (32 goals, 63 assists).

Getting off on the right foot in the City of Brotherly Love didn’t happen for Briere. With the huge contract came huge expectations and it appeared those expectations weighed very heavily on Briere’s shoulders. He was booed at times in Philadelphia but the thing that has endeared him to the Philly fans is that even when being booed, he never complained or pointed a finger. Instead he relied on the support of his family and looked within for the answers, which took a while in coming but most importantly they arrived in time for the playoffs. Briere began the conference finals leading the Flyers in points.

The chief reason why Briere struggled at times playing 5-on-5 (he went from a plus-minus of plus-22 with Buffalo two years ago to a minus-17 with Philly this season) is that the perfect marriage of Briere and left winger Simon Gagne was only a brief one as Gagne went down with a concussion and didn’t play much this season.

It wasn’t until the Flyers traded with Tampa Bay in late February for Vinny Prospal that another winger arrived in Philly who could play Briere’s game, which I call “small hockey.” In tight quarters Briere is brilliant and so when play gets deep into the offensive zone and behind the net, Briere needs someone to play small hockey with him – give-and-goes, quick passes in front, someone who can sense his thinking and play the same kind of game and Prospal proved to be that guy. Briere, Prospal and right winger Scott Hartnell, who does a lot of the crashing and banging, make up a pretty special line for Philly.

Small size, but a huge heart
Briere has had to do it the hard way his whole career as from the time he was a teenager he was told he was too small to make it in the NHL. Good for him that he didn’t believe a word of what he was being told. His inner fortitude and his level of perseverance are truly remarkable and he has earned the status and the dollars that have finally come to him.

The 30-year-old gets listed at 5-foot-10,180 pounds but don’t buy that for a moment. He’s closer to 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds. Somehow it took a while for NHL teams to look past Briere’s size and truly recognize his talent. Phoenix traded him in March of 2003 after he was not only the Coyotes leading goal scorer the previous season with 32 but was fourth on the team in scoring with 17 goals and 46 points in 68 games at the time he was dealt to Buffalo.

Before the lockout the NHL was a league where size was much more valuable and at a premium because the game was so compact. A lot of nights it was just a slugfest out on the ice. But the new NHL changed that and the new NHL is treating Briere and his game right. In Buffalo he really came into his own when coach Lindy Ruff put him on a line with J.P. Dumont and Marco Sturm. Briere says that line had the same kind of outstanding chemistry he now finds playing with Prospal and Hartnell. Chemistry which just might bring the Flyers a Stanley Cup this spring.

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