I will always cherish the times that I have spent speaking with Danny Briere. The topics would range from family, food, sports and of course hockey. Whether it was in the Buffalo room after wins and losses or at the Amherst Pepsi Center in August or Salvatore's Italian Gardens in mid-July, Briere always made time to talk. I will always cherish Brier's candor, sense of intense pride, transparency, wonderful sense of humor, and his passion for the game.
Last winter, Briere returned to Buffalo as a member of tge Colorado Avalanche. After the game, in the visiting team locker room, we got caught up before he departed the Buffalo building where he did his best leadership work for the last time in his NHL career. Danny asked me about my kids. He told me about his boys. It's so hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that his three boys are all active teenagers now. I will never forget watching Danny and his rugrats playing mini sticks in the Sabres room. To know Danny is to know that he loves being a father to his three boys. He lives for it. Its what completes him. He loves watching them compete in their hockey careers and in their individual pursuits. Danny's million dollar smile stretches ear to ear when his boys are mentioned. He is a proud papa and now he will have all of the time in the world to invest in spending time with his boys.
Sabres fans now will say goodbye to their former number one centerman while they are welcoming their new number one center in Jack Eichel.
In an article published on LaPresse today, the former Buffalo Sabres captain has announced his retirement from the NHL. The article, written in French, begins:
“I played my last game in the National Hockey League. The time has come for me to announce my retirement.… Briere continues (via Google Translate):
“I played my last game in the National Hockey League. The time has come for me to announce my retirement.…
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"It’s really not a decision that is taken lightly. I thought about it for several weeks. In fact, the idea began to germinate in my mind last winter, when I was in Colorado. I was away from my children, who remained in Philadelphia. It really was not an easy situation for me.…
Briere will be 38 before the start of the 2015-16 season and has played 17 NHL seasons with the Phoenix Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche. Briere still makes his home in Philadelphia and has a strong attachment there, going so far as to suggest that he hopes he could get a role in the organization in the article, adding, “I’ve always been treated well within this organization and I would be proud to maintain a role.…
Briere is a four-time 30-goal scorer and accumulated 95 points in the 2006-07 season for the Sabres. Briere had an astounding string of good fortune in the 2009-10 season with the Flyers when he scored 12 goals and 18 assists in 23 postseason games.
Briere retires just 27 games short of 1,000 NHL games played. He played a total of 973 regular season games (1,097 total games), scoring 307 goals and 389 assists.
Danny's best work came in the Stanley Cup playoffs where he would take his game to another level. In 124 career playoff games, Briere scored 53 goals and added 63 assists for 116 points.
Briere retires as a two-time NHL All-Star who won gold in the World Junior Championships. He also won two gold medals for Canada in the World Championships, during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.
Briere says in the article that the official announcement of his retirement will come in a press conference on Tuesday, which may be when we find out more about a potential off-ice role with the Flyers.
I know that Danny will be reading this so I will say bye for now, not forever. I'm confident that I will be seeing you in the nesr future.
Thank you for the lifetime of hockey memories. Also, thank you for being a friend.