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Flyers GM Danny Brière has not disclosed his offseason to-do list. We wrote one for him.

They need a new coach, of course. They also have to find some help at center and goaltender, and finally fix their power play. Danny Brière will be busy.

General manager Danny Brière says the selection of a new head coach will be a group decision involving the Flyers' brass.
General manager Danny Brière says the selection of a new head coach will be a group decision involving the Flyers' brass. Read moreElizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

General manager Danny Brière sat down with a list Saturday afternoon at the Flyers Training Center. But while it was an important list, the names that will be the future of the organization, it wasn’t the list.

The Flyers’ season is over, and it was an amalgamation of things. There was the good from Matvei Michkov’s impressive rookie season, Travis Konecny’s points total, the Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink trio, Travis Sanheim’s emergence on the world stage, and making difficult choices to open salary-cap space.

But there was downright bad, too. That included finishing fourth from the bottom in the standings (could be good, though?), the NHL’s worst goaltending (.879 percentage, woof), and former coach John Tortorella’s insatiable thirst for winning and his inability to see the forest through the trees.

So while Brière rattled off a list of forwards, like Alex Bump and Denver Barkey, and defensemen, notably Oliver Bonk, the list everyone wanted him to voice was his offseason to-do list.

He didn’t, but we did:

🔲 New coach

🔲 Center depth

🔲 Goaltending upgrade

🔲 Fix the power play

‘We’re not that far’

As Brière said, when Tortorella was fired the morning of March 27, the hope is that the team’s rebuild had officially hit “rock bottom.” Although it was the winter of the Flyers’ discontent, could “glorious summer” be around the corner, or will it be one of Shakespeare’s tragedies instead?

Time will tell. But pitter-patter, let’s get at ‘er.

That first box is the most critical. The next head coach will set the tone and steer the ship, hopefully for the Flyers, in the right direction.

“We’re not that far from playoffs,” Konecny said Friday. “I think next year, depending on what happens this summer, is a very realistic opportunity at being in the playoffs. It’s a hard question because once you get in, you never know what happens, right? You know anything can happen. I would say being a consistent contender is two years [away]. We’ve still got a young team and still have guys developing, but I think all the pieces we have right now, we are capable of getting in, for sure.”

» READ MORE: Danny Brière and the Flyers have to get the timing right on hiring a new coach

Brière, in his second season at the helm, is confident he can choose wisely after being involved in the hiring of Tortorella. Although his process is just beginning, he knows that he wants someone who can teach and communicate, more than likely after Tortorella did the former well but struggled with the latter. And he’s planning on casting a wide net.

“We want to not just interview older guys or younger guys. I would like to consider different coaches, different points of view, and then as a group, we will make a decision on who makes the most sense for us,” the GM said. “As I said earlier, the team that we have, we have a younger team that is just starting to come together and just starting to explore how good they can be.”

Interim coach Brad Shaw did just that in the last nine games of the season, and will get a long look, according to Brière. Several other names have swirled around the Orange and Black, including Rick Tocchet, whose contract with the Vancouver Canucks is expiring, and Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler, a former Detroit Red Wings assistant.

Wanted: Help at center

The winner of the Flyers’ search will get a young squad and the opportunity to cultivate the already impressive game of Michkov. It only took nine months, but finally, on Saturday, Brière used the word “superstar” when discussing the 20-year-old winger.

“I’ve been around a few superstars, and he’s got that mindset,” he said.

“Navigating an NHL dressing room is not easy, especially when you come in as a superstar, trying to fit in to a group that’s already kind of looking at you sideways, like, ‘OK, here’s the savior coming in,’” he added, dropping the other taboo S-word in Philly. “... He earned their respect by how he carried himself. He’s a hard worker. He always is looking to improve.”

Brière said Michkov walked into their end-of-season meeting with a detailed plan of what he wanted to do over the summer. No word on whether the Russian included working with a new No. 1 center.

Now, in all honesty, Sean Couturier looked pretty good between Michkov and Konecny. The trio did struggle defensively, as expected, but when heading the other way, they certainly had their chances. Sure, Couturier will tell you there were a lot of one-and-dones, but when they connected — or even came close to connecting — it was sure fun to watch.

But the Flyers do need to build down the middle. Jett Luchanko is waiting in the wings and will add speed, but there isn’t much in the cupboard behind him. Getting an upgrade via a young center who can also grow with this roster would be a big step in retooling the lineup for success. There are several options in the draft, and at least one of Michael Misa, Anton Frondell, Caleb Desnoyers, and James Hagens should be available when the Flyers draft anywhere from first to sixth. (The draft lottery is expected to be held in early May.)

Brière confirmed Saturday that he wouldn’t be against an offer sheet — and who doesn’t love an offer sheet? Centers Marco Rossi, Gabriel Vilardi, JJ Peterka, and Ryan McLeod are restricted free agents this summer, and Peterka and McLeod just posted multipoint games against the Flyers in the season finale against Buffalo.

Net loss

And to add even more fuel to the fire that comes with trying to loosely “steal” another team’s player, could the Flyers go the offer-sheet route for a goalie?

“The goalies did not play to the expectations we had,” Brière said about Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov, who combined for the lowest save percentage in the NHL. “But there’s a lot more issues that go into it. I’ve talked to all the goalies. They know they have a lot to prove, and it’s not going to be good enough to come back at the same level. If we have a chance to improve, we’re going to have to seriously consider it.”

Let the speculation rain down because restricted free agent netminders who raise an eyebrow include 24-year-olds Lukáš Dostál (.903 save percentage in 54 games) and Joel Hofer (.904 save percentage in 31 games). And if the offer-sheet route isn’t an option, several intriguing unrestricted free agents could split the crease and mentor Ersson, including Jake Allen, Frederik Andersen, and Dan Vladar, who did just that with Calder Trophy candidate Dustin Wolf in Calgary.

» READ MORE: Flyers exit interviews: Sean Couturier felt ‘pushed aside’ by John Tortorella

The good news is, roster-wise, the Flyers will have some wiggle room to add players and make upgrades. The salary cap will rise to $95.5 million and, according to PuckPedia, the Flyers’ cap hit is projected at just over $70 million.

A possible upgrade at center and a new head coach — who is expected to bring in his own staff and therefore change who is running it — also should help a power play that was in the basement for the fourth straight year.

Brière can say there were baby steps and joke that, well, it wasn’t the NHL’s worst like the previous three seasons, but if the team is serious about taking steps forward, that needs an overhaul. There were several times when the Flyers needed a goal here or there to get back into a game, add to their lead, or even put a game away. The power play failed 98% of the time.

So it’s not a long list, and they do all intertwine in many ways, but it’s time to get moving and time to get going because training camps open up in roughly 149 days.