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Meltzer's Musings:Briere, Arnott, Scurko

July 17, 2012, 8:34 AM ET [462 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Danny Briere has always been willing to play wherever the Flyers ask him to play, whether it's center or wing. However, he has typically felt more comfortable and played more effectively in the middle than on wing. As such, Peter Laviolette generally prefers to keep Briere in the middle.

Despite the defensive disadvantage Briere has in even strength matchups against much larger pivots, Briere's offensive prowess (especially in the playoffs, where he is the NHL's leading goal scorer since the 2004-05 lockout) makes up for it. When you figure in power play points -- which count the same on the scoreboard as even strength goals for or goals against -- Briere's positives outweigh any negatives.

His lengthy slump this past season had as much to do with recovery from injury and constant shuffling of linemates as it did a sudden loss of scoring ability. By the time the playoffs rolled around, he was producing regularly again.

Briere knows that defense is his weak point and has actually worked hard over the last 3-4 seasons in Philadelphia to improve his defensive game. He'll never be a Selke contender, and the defensive problems still pop up from time to time. For example, the Penguins created a mismatch in the 2012 playoffs when they were able to get Jordan Staal out against Briere in the Philadelphia zone. Even so, Briere's defense in the middle is not a constant, game-in-and-game-out worry the way it was during his first year in Philly.

In the long term, the Flyers would like to have their top three lines centered by Claude Giroux, Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier. That will likely mean a move to wing for Briere at some point.

Will it be next season? Hard to say at this point. Schenn frequently played left wing on Briere's line in the second half of 2011-12, with Wayne Simmonds and others playing the right side. But this was far from a constant arrangement the way Briere's line with Scott Hartnell and Ville Leino was in the 2010 playoffs and 2010-11 season.

Next season, we could very well see Jakub Voracek open the season on Giroux's line, with Briere again paired with Schenn and Simmonds or Matt Read. Couturier would be on the third line with some combination of Ruslan Fedotenko, Simmonds, Max Talbot and Read on the wings.

Alternatively, the Flyers could try to move Briere to right wing sooner rather than later, and make him the third member of the Giroux line. That would either allow Schenn to become a full-time center or else present an opportunity to slide Couturier up into the top six.

Briere has three years remaining on the eight-year contract he signed in the summer of 2007. He carries a $6.5 million cap hit, but his actually salary will be $7 million next season and then drop to $3 million in 2012-13 and $2 million in the final year of the contract. He will be 37 years old when the contract expires.

To those who want to see the Flyers trade Briere or, if such a provision is created, exercise an amnesty clause on his contract, it's NOT going to happen. Five reasons:

1) The Flyers are still happy with Briere's on-ice performance, especially for what he brings in the playoffs on an annual basis.

2) Briere is happy here. He wants to finish his career as a Flyer and hopes to make the Philadelphia area his permanent home even after he retires as an active player.

3) Briere has a full no-movement clause in his contract.

4) Family comes above work. Briere's primarily allegiance is -- and should be -- to the needs of his children and not to the desires of his employer. As such, if the team were to ask him to waive his NMC, there would be a very limited number of places where he'd be able or willing to go.

5) Briere remains a vital locker room presence. He commands a ton of respect. Briere is also one of the club's best off-ice ambassadors, both in the community and to prospective free agents. Danny is a tremendous human being and, when you combine it with all the big goals he scores on the ice, he is still an important member of the organization.

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Is anyone else surprised that Jason Arnott is still sitting out on the unrestricted free agent market on July 17? Even at age 37 with his injury history of missing 9 to 19 games in five of the last six seasons, he remains a very valuable two-way center.

There have been no shortage of rumors placing Arnott in various NHL cities -- Edmonton, Toronto, remaining in St. Louis -- for next season. As yet, though, he's still not signed. I can't see Shane Doan's situation being the reason, as they play different positions and Arnott fills a different (less offense oriented) role now than he used to.

Personally, if the Flyers moved Briere to right wing and kept Schenn at left wing, I would not mind seeing the Flyers take a run at Arnott on a one-year deal. He had a solid regular season for St. Louis (17 goals, 34 points, +14 in 72 games) last year on a $2.875 million salary.

Arnott would be the best faceoff man the Flyers have had in years; possibly since the retirement of Keith Primeau. He's no longer a 30-goal scorer but could take a little pressure off Schenn and Couturier to carry more offensive burden than they are ready for. He isn't fast, but he's still no fun to play against and knows how to use his size.

Anyway, that's just a thought for a Tuesday morning in mid-July.

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In Kosice, Slovakia, former Flyers draft pick Ladislav Scurko has been convicted of the January 2008 killing of Slovak Extraliga referee Marek Liptaj in a non hockey-related dispute. Scurko confronted Liptaj and an argument soon turned violent at a service station in Kosice. The player used a kitchen knife to stab Liptaj 14 times in the chest and abdomen. He then drove the body to the forest and buried it in a shallow grave.

Liptaj's body was not discovered for a year. In the meantime, Scurko continued his hockey career with HC Kosice, acting as if nothing had happened. When he was finally arrested in April 2009, Scurko confessed to the killing but later retracted the confession. He remained in prison until Nov. 2011 while trial proceedings remained delayed.

This week, Scurko was sentenced to eight additional years in prison for voluntary manslaughter. He was not convicted of murder because psychiatric evaluations suggested that Scurko was mentally ill. In addition, police previously testified that they believed the killer's initial intent was not to murder his victim but rather to physically intimidate and coerce him into settling a personal dispute.

Eight years is the minimum sentence in Slovakia for a crime of this nature.

According to Scurko's statements in his initial confession, the referee had asked the player if he could move into Scurko's apartment while undergoing cancer treatments. The player agreed, but soon the situation sourced.

The hockey player claimed he began to suspect that Liptaj did not have cancer, nor was the referee about to start paying rent to him. Once settled in the player's home, Scurko claimed, Liptaj repeatedly refused to move out despite increasingly forceful demands to leave. Finally, Scurko confronted him physically and attempted to force Liptaj to comply. That, according to the defendant, was what directly led to the multiple stabbings and panicked burial of the corpse.

While initially in prison, Scurko retracted his confession. He said police tricked him into it. However, the court held that the key facts in the case were accurate and imposed the minimum sentence.

Scurko was selected by the Flyers in the sixth round (No. 170 overall) of the 2004 NHL Draft. He played two seasons in the Western Hockey League for the Seattle Thunderbirds, where former Flyers' general manager Russ Farwell served as the junior team's GM. When the Flyers did not offer the forward an NHL contract, he returned home to play in Slovakia.

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