I ran into Coach Don this morning at the rink. He suggested Bully analyze Briere’s points this season vs. Atlantic Division opponents: Devils, Islanders, Rangers, Penguins.

The Atlantic is the most physical conference in the league. If you disagree, as any player.

Briere — who has dropped to 30th in the league in scoring (down four slots this week) — has a total of 20 goals and 29 assists this season.

Here’s the problem: He only has 5 goals and 6 assists in divisional play. He’s obviously not a good fit in the Atlantic and so far, has struggled against the Islanders the most.

Considering the Flyers play 32 games against their divisional rivals, you can see what Briere is going to do during those games, especially if the Flyers have to play division foes in the playoffs.

If I were Holmgren I’d seriously consider ditching this chump ASAP and getting some serious players in return. That won’t happen because 1. Briere’s contract is grossly inflated and 2. Flyers brass feel Briere doesn’t have to be great at this point, just good. That is their public stance at least.

Privately, you’d have to be a moron to feel that way when weighing Briere’s huge contract. I don’t think Holmgren is a moron.

I expect his production to decrease further this season. Do you think if Briere was kicking ass, bringing Forsberg back would even be an issue? No way.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Bully's Perspective. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.