True Hockey Talk: Keith Jones And Daniel Briere With W. Graeme Roustan

The Hockey News' Money & Power 2026 hockey business annual is available at THN.com/free, featuring the annual 100 people of power and influence list.

W. Graeme Roustan, owner and publisher of The Hockey News, sat down with special guests for peer-to-peer conversations also featured in the issue, including Philadelphia Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones and GM Daniel Briere.

Here's their full conversation in The Hockey News' True Hockey Talk:

Read along with an excerpt from their discussion:

W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: The business is going really, really well, but there's a lot of excitement that's going on on the ice as well. Can you talk about the changes in the last two years?

DANIEL BRIERE: When we started, the cap was tight. There wasn't a lot of wiggle room. We made a few trades where we were sending players out, we were accumulating cap (space) and getting some draft picks. So there are a lot of things going on, and we knew that this season was probably going to be the last season where we would be in kind of "cap hell" from buyouts and retention.

Now, it's not so, so, so bad. We were able to navigate and make some trades. And now we're in a decent spot, but, really, the last couple of years were about trying to clean up the cap and, along the way, getting some young guys involved, trying to build the core of this team. I think some of the guys have taken a big step, and it's exciting to see.

KEITH JONES: Probably one of the smarter things that we did was to make sure that we communicated that message to our fans right at the start on what the plan was. Danny has done a great job of executing that as far as player personnel and attaining assets that can help us in the future, not just today but four or five years down the road with some of the kids that we drafted over the last couple of years. So there's excitement about that.

Our fans are following what some of our young assets are doing. I know we are closely as well. We're excited about where it's headed, but I do think the fans appreciate being involved in the process and at least feeling like they have two people that they can trust. We're going to have their best interest to try to get this thing right here.

WGR: A lot of people are talking about the coaching. Rick Tocchet coming back to Philadelphia stole the headlines for quite some time. What was it like to have one of your teammates come back and work with you?

DB: It's pretty exciting. It's been great. We're just starting, obviously, this season with him, but those relationships are excellent with us, with the players, with other staff members. That's what he's known for. And it's rejuvenating for us as well.

It's really exciting to be working with Tocchet. I played with him when I started my career, way back in Phoenix, so to have the chance to work with him again is really exciting.

But one thing I have to say there is, the fact that he was an ex-Flyer, the fact that he was our ex-teammate, was just icing on the cake. When we went out, we wanted to bring the best coach available at the time, and he was at the top of the list. We feel fortunate he was willing to come back here and that everything aligned for him to be our coach this season and for years to come.

KJ: It was a tougher recruiting job than we anticipated. He grinded us. He had lots of options. We had to really get out there and work to get him to accept the position here.

We feel fortunate to have him. He's done an outstanding job so far. I think his work ethic is what we expected, because we knew him as a player, and that was something that always stood out to me when I played with him: how much work he put in after practice. And he continues to do that now. And the staff as well have been excellent. The staff was really important for him to have. He wanted his guys, and eventually, we were able to get the pieces in place for him.

WGR: Is there a difference between playing for a coach who was an NHL player versus someone who wasn't?

DB: There are strengths and weaknesses for anyone, and I don't think it matters all that much that they've played in the NHL or not. There have been some amazing coaches over the years who never skated in the NHL.

One of the advantages for someone who has played, who has been around, obviously, is understanding the synergy that is within the team in a locker room, for example. Or the travel and the toll that it takes physically on the players. But it's not a must. We had a coach before, John Tortorella, who was an excellent coach as well. He had never played in the NHL. And to us, it didn't matter. We wanted the best coach for the city, for this team, for our players.

KJ: And sometimes there's a uniqueness to coaches who didn't play. Roger Neilson was one for me, when I was here in Philadelphia. He was a character. He was interesting, and he kept you focused on the task at hand. He had a different way of going about it. But I really appreciated him as a head coach as well. He was the only one in the NHL who I played for who did not play at least a little bit in the NHL as a player. I did find him to be an awesome coach.

WGR: Dan Hilferty has integrated the business and the hockey operations really, really well. There's a trend in the NHL to try to do that, to break down that wall. Some have had successes; some have not had successes. But Dan seems to have done it. What's been your experience in seeing Dan do that?

KJ: It's been seamless. We, obviously, fully want that and accept that, and we want to make sure that the business side feels like they're a big part of this, which they are. We love including them. They're great people. We're both, under Dan's tutelage, looking to continue to grow that.

It's been an interesting thing to watch. I think one of Dan's strengths is his ability to make people feel like they're a part of it and collaborate and push us to make sure that we're doing the same. We've embraced him.

DB: It's been great. I think the business side feels more part of the team. We feel more part of the business as well. When I came back to the organization, Paul Holmgren was the one who brought me back. It wasn't on the hockey side at first. It was on the business side. I had the chance to learn and go through all the different departments on the business side. It was eye-opening, first of all, for me. I realized that they have a lot to offer. Keith has done it through the TV side as well. We're very open to it. I think Dan and the people around him have done a great job. It makes us stronger.

For more interviews with a deep look into the world of the hockey business, check out The Hockey News' Money & Power 2026 issue, available at THN.com/free.