Danny Briere Hangs Up His Skates

The man known as “Mr. Playoffs” has decided to retire after 17 seasons of playing in the NHL.

Daniel Briere, 37, played in 973 games for five different teams throughout his career. The teams included the Phoenix Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche. Over the course of 17 seasons, the forward scored 307 goals, had 389 assists, and tallied 696 total points. Briere scored 30 or more goals four times in his career. He also had nine seasons where he scored 40 or more points.

Briere always seemed to step up once the playoffs came around. He could have a mediocre season, but then come to life during the playoffs. In the 2008 playoffs, he helped lead the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals, while tallying 16 points (nine goals, seven assists). In 2010, he helped the Flyers get to the Stanley Cup Final, by setting a franchise record of 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists) in 23 games, and four of those 12 goals were game-winners. He averaged more points per game in the postseason (.93) than he did in the regular season (.72).

In 124 playoff games, Briere scored 53 goals, had 63 assists and tallied 116 total points. He also helped to lead the Sabres to the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons, but never won a Stanley Cup during his career.

He was taken in the first round (24th overall) by Phoenix in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. He played five and a half seasons with the Coyotes before being traded to the Sabres. His most productive season came with the Sabres during the 2006-07 campaign, where he had 32 goals, 63 assists and 95 points. Despite this, the Sabres let Briere become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2007.

The Flyers signed him to an eight year contract prior to the 2007-08 season. In his first season, he helped lead the Flyers back to the playoffs and all the way to the Eastern Conference Final, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 2010-11 season was Briere’s best as a Flyer, where he put up 34 goals, 34 assists and 68 points in 77 games played. In six seasons with the Flyers, Briere played in 364 games while registering 124 goals, 159 assists and 283 points. The Flyers used a compliance buy out on his contract after the 2012-13 season. Briere helped lead the Flyers to the playoffs in five of his six years that he was with the team.

Briere recorded 68 points (36 goals, 32 assists) in 62 career playoff games with the Flyers, averaging 1.10 points per playoff game. He had nine game-winning playoff goals, which ranks him second in franchise history behind only Rich MacLeish (10).

The Canadiens signed him to a two-year contract prior to the 2013-14 season. Briere was traded to the Avalanche on June 30, 2014, where he finished that season, and what turned out to be his career, with eight goals, four assists, and 12 points.