Danny Brière Daniel " Danny " Brière ( born October 6 , 1977 ) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and an alternate captain for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . He has previously played with the Phoenix Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres . Internationally , Brière has won four gold medals in as many appearances with Team Canada at the 1994 World U18 Championships , 1997 World Junior Championships , and the 2003 and 2004 World Championships . Playing career . Early years . Growing up and playing hockey in his hometown Gatineau , Briere played Bantam hockey in 1992 - 93 for the Abitibi Regents before graduating to the AAA Gatineau Intrepide of the Quebec Midget League for the 1993 - 94 season . He was drafted by the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the 1994 QMJHL Draft . Brière ' s number 14 has been retired by this team , on January 21st , 2007 , during a ceremony in the Marcel Dionne Center of Drummondville . In his rookie season , he recorded 123 points , third overall in the league , was awarded the Michel Bergeron Trophy as league rookie of the year , and the Marcel Robert Trophy as scholastic player of the year . The following season , he improved to 163 points , earning the Jean Béliveau Trophy as the league ' s leading scorer . He was also named the QMJHL Humanitarian of the Year and awarded the Ford Cup as offensive player of the year . Despite a remarkable 6 - game , 18 - point post - season effort from Brière , Drummondville was not able to advance from the divisional round - robin . After Brière was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round , 24th overall , in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft making him the first ever player taken by the Coyotes since moving from Winnipeg , he returned to Drumondville for one more season . He recorded 130 points , finishing in the top three in league scoring for the third consecutive season , and was awarded the Frank J . Selke Memorial Trophy as the most sportsmanlike player . Graduating from major junior , Brière split his first four seasons in the NHL between the Coyotes and their American Hockey League ( AHL ) affiliate , the Springfield Falcons . In his first professional season in 1998 , he recorded 92 points in 68 games and was awarded the Dudley " Red " Garrett Memorial Award as top rookie , as well as being named the AHL ' s First Team All - Star center . He remains the third leading scorer in Falcons ' franchise history . Brière ' s training regimen became newsworthy in 2001 when it became known that , in order to overcome his diminutive size ( at 5 ft . 10 in . , he is comparably small by NHL standards ) , he had begun off - season strength training with Canadian World ' s Strongest Man competitor Hugo Girard , who shares Gatineau as a hometown . He earned a consistent NHL roster spot in the second half of the 2000 – 01 season and spent his first full season with the Coyotes in 2001 – 02 , recording 60 points . Buffalo Sabres . At the 2002 – 03 trade deadline , the Coyotes traded Brière to the Buffalo Sabres where he would eventually become team captain in exchange for Chris Gratton . Two draft picks were also exchanged in the trade . Brière continued to improve with the Sabres . After playing with SC Bern of the Swiss Nationaliiga A during the 2004 – 05 NHL lockout , he emerged as an NHL star , beginning with a 58 - point season in just 48 games during the 2005 – 06 campaign . Brière was kept out of the lineup for 32 games due to an abdominal injury suffered in January that required surgery and a 2 - game suspension following an inadvertent high - stick to Boston Bruins defenceman Brian Leetch . Completing the season with the Sabres healthy , Brière helped lead the club to their first post - season berth in four years . During this time he earned the nickname " cookie monster " from Sabres play by play announcer Rick Jeanneret for his notarity for shooting top shelf " where mommy hides the cookies " . Playing on a rejuvenated team that included stars Chris Drury , Thomas Vanek and Brian Campbell , the Sabres advanced to the conference - finals , paced by Brière ' s team - high 19 points . In the off - season , Brière filed for salary arbitration , which resulted in a one - year , $ 5 million contract that the Sabres agreed to on August 5 , 2006 . The following season Brière scored two hat trick s . His first on December 5 , 2006 , against the Tampa Bay Lightning ' s goaltender Marc Denis . His second came shortly after , on January 30 , 2007 , in front of a home crowd at HSBC Arena in a 7 - 1 victory against the Boston Bruins , with two goals against Hannu Toivonen and one against his replacement Tim Thomas . He was voted in as a starter to his first NHL All - Star Game in Dallas , Texas , and recorded a game - high five points ( one goal , four assists ) . He was named All - Star Game MVP and received a Dodge Nitro that he ended up giving to his sister . Brière finished the season with a career - high 32 goals , 63 assists and 95 points . He added 15 points in the post - season as the Sabres made their second straight appearance in the conference - finals , but were eliminated by the Ottawa Senators . Philadelphia Flyers . As Brière ' s one - year contract expired at the end of 2006 – 07 , he became an unrestricted free agent on July 1 , 2007 . It was widely speculated that Brière would return to his home province and play for the Montreal Canadiens , but he instead signed with the Philadelphia Flyers , who finished the previous season as the worst team in the NHL , to an eight - year , $ 52 million contract with a no - trade clause . The Flyers front - loaded the deal , paying Brière $ 10 million in the first season of the contract , making him the highest paid player of the league in 2007 – 08 , along with Scott Gomez of the New York Rangers and former Sabres teammate Thomas Vanek . His decision to join the Flyers is often attributed to the influence of his friend Martin Biron , who was traded from Buffalo to Philadelphia at the previous season ' s trade deadline . He later cited the prospect of anonymity in Philadelphia as opposed to Montreal as an additional factor in his decision . Because of this , he is often booed by Montreal fans when the Flyers visit the Bell Centre . Brière ' s production dipped in his first season with the Flyers in 2007 – 08 , but he still finished second in team scoring with 72 points in 79 games , behind eventual team captain Mike Richards . He scored his third career hat trick near the beginning of the season on November 21 , 2007 , against the Carolina Hurricanes ' s goaltender Cam Ward . Led by Brière and Richards on the newly revamped Flyers ( additional off - season acquisitions included Kimmo Timonen , Scott Hartnell and Joffrey Lupul ) , Philadelphia went from worst team in the NHL the previous season to an appearance in the 2008 conference - finals against eventual Eastern Conference champs , the Pittsburgh Penguins . Brière recorded 9 goals and 7 assists in his third straight semi - finals appearance . Less than a month into the 2008 – 09 season , on October 22 , Brière suffered another abdominal tear requiring surgery . He was expected to be sidelined at least a month , but returned within half that time on November 8 against the Tampa Bay Lightning . However , the next game against the New York Islanders on November 11 , he suffered a groin pull , sidelining him for nine games . In his first game back , Brière suffered yet another setback , re - injured his groin on December 3 against the Tampa Bay Lightning . Preparing to make a return to the Flyers lineup , he was assigned to the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL on January 13 , 2009 , to play three games on a conditioning basis . Brière finished the season having played in just 29 games for the Flyers , recording 11 goals and 14 assists . The Flyers were eliminated for the second consecutive year in the playoffs by the Pittsburgh Penguins , the eventual Stanley Cup champions . Brière scored one goal along with three assists in the series . The following season , Brière was suspended by the NHL for two games for leaving his feet to check Colorado Avalanche defenceman Scott Hannan , making contact with Hannan ' s neck with his elbow during a game on November 23 , 2009 . He also suffered a tweaked groin during that season and missed 5 games because of it . However , a highlight came to Brière in a game in Montreal where he scored a hat trick with all goals in different situations , Power - play , even strength and penalty shot . Danny Brière led the entire 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs in scoring with 30 points ( 12 goals and 18 assists ) and in the process broke the record for points in a postseason by a Flyer held previously by Brian Propp , who had 28 . Five games into the playoffs , he was placed with wingers Scott Hartnell and Ville Leino and the line went on to be one of the best of the postseason . Specifically in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final , Brière finished with 12 points ( 3 goals and 9 assists ) - one point shy of Wayne Gretzky ' s record of 13 in a final , and the highest output in a final since Mario Lemieux in 1992 . During the last minute of an October 30 , 2010 game against the New York Islanders , Brière was given a five - minute cross - checking major and a game misconduct for a stick - swinging incident with Frans Nielsen . On November 1 , the NHL suspended Brière for three games . Brière disagreed with the ruling , saying , " If you look at the replay , it ' s clearly not a crosscheck which is two hands moving forward . It ' s a push with one hand . The mistake I made is my stick was up there . Is it worth three games for that ? I don ' t think so . And on top of that , I missed him . I didn ' t even get him . . . My glove grazed the top of his helmet , not my stick . " On January 19 , 2011 Briere was named as the replacement to go to the all star game for Calgary Flames player Jarome Iginla , who cited health concerns about his grandmother as the reason for dropping out of what would have been his sixth All - Star Game . Briere scored two goals for Team Lidstrom in the game , helping them to a 11 - 10 victory over Team Staal . Brière finished the 2010 – 11 NHL season with 34 goals and 34 assists . He went on to record seven goals during the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs , a postseason that saw the Flyers defeat Brière ' s former team , the Buffalo Sabres in 7 games but fall to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins in a four game sweep . International play . Brière made two appearances for Team Canada as a junior . In his first , at the 1994 World U18 Championships in Mexico City , he scored 5 points and earned his first gold medal as Canada defeated the United States 5 – 2 in the final . Three years later , during his final year of major junior in the QMJHL , he competed for Team Canada at the 1997 World Junior Championships in Switzerland . Brière scored 6 points in 7 games and captured his second gold medal , defeating the United States once more 2 – 0 . He debuted at the senior level with Team Canada at the 2003 World Championships and scored 9 points in 9 games . He earned another gold medal , defeating the United States in the final for the third time in his career . The next year , at the 2004 World Championships , Brière earned his fourth gold medal in as many international appearances , topping Sweden 5 – 3 in the final . He tallied 8 points , to finish ninth in tournament scoring . Personal life . Growing up , Brière attended Collège Saint - Alexandre , a private high school in Gatineau . He presently has three sons – Caelan ( born July 1998 ) , Carson ( born September 1999 ) and Cameron ( born April 2001 ) – with ex - wife Sylvie and has been a resident of Haddonfield , New Jersey .