Daniel Briere Injured Again

In hindsight, the Philadelphia Flyers decision to sign Daniel Briere to an eight-year, $52 million contract is looking to be a rather poor investment. That is, if you ignore the original insanity of giving a player that type of contract when he's topped 75 points only once in his career. And that's when he's actually on the ice.

After missing 51 games this season with a groin injury, Briere returned to the Flyers lineup on March 1, and lasted just two full games. In his third game back, Thursday's 5-1 loss to Calgary, the 31-year-old forward left the contest after aggravating the same groin injury, and general manager Paul Holmgren didn't exactly sound optimistic when talking about his status.

From Ed Barkowitz of the Philadelphia Daily News:

"All we know is that he tweaked his groin again and we'll see how it is [today]," Holmgren said dejectedly. "He's having a tough time right now as much mentally as physically."

"Dejected" is never a good thing. The only positive for the Flyers is if Briere keeps spending time on the long-term injured list, they get a little cap relief from his gigantic, cap-busting contract.

Speaking of which, Barkowitz makes a brief mention in his Daily News story that one of the driving factors behind the Scottie Upshall trade was to free salary cap space at the deadline. This comes after Glen Metropolit and Ossi Vaananen were recently placed on waivers to make enough room for Briere to return to the lineup.

Briere still has six years and over $34 million remaining on the deal he signed in July, 2007, coming off a season in Buffalo where he registered a career-high 95 points.

As a result, the Flyers have a nearly $7 million cap hit for a 31-year-old player with a messed up groin. A player that averages about 65 points per season.

According to NHL Numbers, Philadelphia already has $54 million in salary for next season ... and no goalies. Look on the bright side, Flyers fans, at least you're not in the Rangers current cap situation.