Flyers G.M. Danny Briere sits in with On Pattison's Anthony SanFilippo on his podcast Snow the Goalie. (Credit: Snow the Goalie)
With the NHL Draft one week away, teams are hunkering down making last minute preparations as general managers meet with their scouting staff to prepare for two days of intense activity that is intended to shape the future of their franchises.
Well, most teams, anyway.
Danny Briere is not doing that - at least not yet.
Instead, the Flyers' G.M. hopped a plane Thursday for Miami.
Wait.. a trip to South Beach? Now? How can he go on vacation now? A week before the draft and 11 days before the start of free agency?
He's not on vacation.
So, what's he doing? Conducting a stakeout of Florida Panthers G.M. Bill Zito? Seeing what kind of coffee he drinks and what he eats for breakfast? Hoping that if he copies it, maybe his morning routine will rub off on the Flyers?
No. Not that either.
Then what? This makes no sense!
Until it does.
On Pattison has learned that Briere is in Miami to attend a hockey event run by certified player agent Dan Milstein. This is the second straight year Milstein has held this "pre-draft camp" which is mostly attended by Russian hockey players. It's a mix of prospects already affiliated with NHL teams as well as prospects for the upcoming draft.
Three of Russia's top goaltending prospects - Pyotr Andreyanov, Semyon Frolov, and Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko - are expected to participate.
Semyon Frolov is one of the top 2025 draft-eligible goalies to know. The Russian netminder brings a good blend of size, clean movements, technical positioning and sharp play-tracking
I've only just started following him but so far I've seen a lot to like and no major weaknesses pic.twitter.com/9bxud3OIpK
But Briere is there not so much for a last minute scouting mission, but rather to further his influence in making the Flyers a destination that would be attractive to Russian hockey players.
This is important, since it's difficult to get many eyes on players playing in Russia. Most teams have one scout over there - and the Flyers have one of the best in Ken Hoodikoff - but the reality is, there is so much misinformation that is fed to Russian players and their families about hockey in North America that they don't always know who to believe or whom to trust.
As such, many Russian prospects fall in the draft, especially if they have not made it known that they plan to come over to North America prior to the draft.
Milstein's event is an opportunity to get to talk to a small cadre of players, but more importantly, to talk to their agents in person, and not just via an email or a text message.
The real intel that can be gathered at an event like this is how determined a player is to get to the NHL, or what their contract status is or will be in the KHL.
Is a player locked into a contract for two or three years? Can they get out of it? Do they want to play in Russia for awhile? Or are they amenable to coming over to North America sooner?
Information like that can help inform some decisions on draft day.
Could the Flyers be interested in one of the goalies? Andreyanov and Frolov are widely considered early second round talents. Tkach-Tkachenko is further down the list and could be worth a later-round flier.
The Flyers, like many NHL teams, believe that the way Russian goalies are trained to play gives their best crop of netminders a leg up at the position at such a tender age. Whether they harness that and become a star in the NHL - like Andrei Vasilevskiy, or Igor Shesterkin, or Ilya Sorokin, or (gulp!) Sergei Bobrovsky won't be known for several years.
And the gamble is greater because less information is available on these players than those in other countries. The Flyers are excited about young goalie prospect Yegor Zavragin, but remember they were once excited about Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov as well, and how'd they work out?
Still, the Russian goalie crop remains interesting to many.
Kurban Limatov is a big, rangy, two-way defenseman who could be intriguing with one of the four second round picks the Flyers have.
Caught up on some Kurban Limatov tape recently, and he remains one of the biggest wildcard prospects for the 2025 draft
If a team can land a 6-foot-3 defender who skates and handles the puck like this and maximize his development then the finished product could be pretty great pic.twitter.com/pD8SvM9QGR
And then there are two wingers who could sneak into the back end of the first round or be very early second round picks that the Flyers could have their eyes on.
Danil Prokhorov is a mammoth on skates at 6-foot-6. The left winger could one day be a menace for goalies, screening them in front of the net, and also could be a possession monster with the puck as he uses his size to protect it.
The more intriguing name, though, is right winger Alexander Zharovsky. He was an offensive dynamo in the MHL - Russia's top junior league - with 50 points (24 goals, 26 assists) in 45 games in the regular season, and then in the playoffs, playing predominantly against players his age, he had 19 points (12 goals, 7 assists) in just 10 games.
NHL Playoffs are about to launch - But teams who didn't make the Stanley Cup tournament are anxiously preparing for the entry draft in June -
Name to keep an eye on - ALEXANDER ZHAROVSKY - 6"1 163LBS - LEFT SHOT FORWARD - UFA TOLPAR - MHL - RUSSIA - Top six NHL upside / Skill pic.twitter.com/AiLG4zanyW
The problem is, Zharovsky is skilled enough that he will likely be tempted with a contract to play in the KHL. The potential for getting a contract there could scare teams away from drafting him.
But GMs who have made the effort to make inroads with the communication pipeline for Russian players, may feel less concerned about a player signing in the KHL.
Briere has made a concerted attempt to be one of those GMs in his short tenure. Having a young Russian with star potential in Matvei Michkov already in place certainly helps.
And sometimes that's all it takes - just one guy - to make the destination team that much more appealing.
Who the Flyers are targeting, we won't know until next weekend is over. Maybe they draft a few Russians. Maybe they draft none at all.
But Briere is leaving no stone unturned in his efforts to find every diamond he can, even if it means eschewing meetings at home to take a weekend trip to Miami just to talk to agents in person a week before the draft.
