Daniel Briere's Absence Still Noticable

Something is amiss with the Flyers, and the root of the problem seems to be Daniel Briere.

Yes, he's been injured, and that's a part of sports.

He is claiming that he is healthy enough to play, and the training staff has agreed. But as of right now, he is not contributing anything positive to this team. He's returned somewhat in the physical sense, but he still appears sluggish, and mentally it does not appear he is anywhere near ready.

Since his return six games ago, he's already missed two more games. In the four games he has played, the Flyers have scored just six goals, and four of those came in one game against the Bruins and a backup goaltender in Manny Fernandez.

Briere has totaled zero goals and zero assists and a minus-one rating in those games.

In the two games without him? The Flyers knocked off a Nashville Predators team that had won six games in a row and had not given up a power play goal in seven. They ran rampant over the hapless Buffalo Sabres who were without the services of No. 1 goaltender Ryan Miller.

For the season, the Flyers are 3-7-3 with Briere, and a staggering 33-13-7 without him.

On Thursday night, they failed to gain at least a point against the Washington Capitals for the only time in their four meetings this season. I know it's impossible to put all the blame on Briere for that outcome, but he didn't exactly step up either.

Yes, he's returned. But he still hasn't shown up. And now is not the time to be playing a guy simply to "get his legs back." This is the stretch run. The Flyers are in a highly congested playoff race, and they need contributors, not someone taking up space, both on the ice and in the bank.

Say what you want about the Daniel Carcillo for Scottie Upshall deal, but at least that Daniel provides a little energy to the game.

At this point, I'm not sure exactly what could be done to fix this situation, but there are options. For starters, someone has to get inside Briere's head and get him back into the game.

It's too late for a conditioning assignment in the AHL, as the Clear Day Rosters have already been released.

The best option might be Briere, Claude Giroux and maybe Aaron Asham on a line. Recently, Asham has shown flashes of his puck-handling abilities, and although he is mostly a fourth-liner and thus doesn't score a ton, his grit creates chances along the boards.

The toughness would also deter oppositions from roughing up Briere as he has been in recent games.

Giroux's vision is incredible. He most certainly would find Briere with passes and also get open to accept them. I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen more of them together. Danny needs a confidence booster, and Claude could be it.

With this line combo, there would also be some versatility. Asham is a right winger, but both Giroux and Briere have spent time at the wings and center positions. Move them around a bit. See if you can't confuse the defenses a little. Anything just to try and get Briere's presence to be productive.