With Sergei Gonchar’s $5 million a season off the books, the Ottawa Senators suddenly have a little bit of money to play with under the team’s internal budget.
One name that has come up a few times the past year and a half and could be a target again is Philadelphia Flyer forward Daniel Briere. Briere has two years left with a cap hit of $6,500,000 a season and is an obvious trade or buyout candidate this off season for a Flyers team that will be desperate to get under the league’s salary cap.
Acquiring Briere may be a little tricky though. It’s likely the Flyers wouldn’t expect much in return if they did attempt to trade the 35 year old. It has been widely speculated that Philadelphia may buy Briere out so if a trade was presented to them, you would think they would jump on it. The problem there is Briere has a no movement clause.
So if you’re Briere, and you believe a buyout is coming anyway, you might be better off to wait for the buyout and then sign with the team of your choice.
Briere’s current contract is an attractive one for the Sens because even though he carries that high cap hit of $6.5 mil a season, he is scheduled to make $3 mil and $2 mil over the next couple seasons. A very affordable option for the Senators. Although from Ottawa's perspective, if they knew the Flyers were going to buy him out, it may make sense to wait until he's a free agent and they could possibly get him close to or perhaps even less than his current contract value.
The Gatineau native is coming off his lowest point total as an NHLer, registering just 16 points in 34 games and quickly falling out of favour in the City of Brotherly Love. Perhaps a move to his hometown might be just what he needs to kick start his career.
There will be other options the Senators explore up front this off season but Daniel Briere is certainly one name to keep in mind.
