Flyers add another All-Star with Briere's selection

Some may consider it vindication that Danny Briere is going to the All-Star Game after all. He prefers to look at it as the chance to keep a promise he made to his children several years ago.

The Flyers' centerman, yesterday, was added to next weekend's lineup in place of Calgary's Jarome Iginla, who will miss the festivities in order to spend time with his ailing grandmother. Briere's addition allows the league to silence the outcry wondering how the leading scorer on the NHL's top overall team was not one of its All-Stars.

"There's politics involved," Briere shrugged. "That's what I was told and I understand how it is sometimes. There are things you can't understand, I was told, and decisions that have to be made. It is what it is, but the one thing I can tell you is that I am really excited to have the chance to take my kids to it."

Briere leads the Flyers with 24 goals and 41 points. Right behind him is Mike Richards with 40 points. Richards is not an All-Star. Hmmm . . .

"Danny's play is deserving of being in the All-Star Game, but how can you argue with the process?" said general manager Paul Holmgren, taking the high road. "You can't get into that."

The NHL mandates that at least one player from each team be represented in either the All-Star Game or among the 12 rookies who will compete in a skills competition, so there was a numbers crunch. Still, conspiracy theorists had taken Briere's original exclusion as a personal affront against the Flyers franchise.

"We're certainly happy for Danny, that he was added and that his boys will be excited," Holmgren said. "Hopefully, he can go and have a good time and enjoy that time with his family. It's a unique experience."

This year's All-Star Game is being hosted by the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, Jan. 30. The skills challenge is the night before.

Briere will be bringing his three children, Caelan, Carson and Cameron. Flyers teammate Claude Giroux will make his first All-Star appearance. Sure to make it an even neater experience for the kids - Giroux lives with Team Briere in their South Jersey home. Giroux is the tall one.

Briere had originally planned to go to Florida to attend hockey tournaments in which his kids were playing.

"I'm sure some of the coaches won't be happy," he chuckled shortly after learning he was an All-Star. "I better start making some phone calls before it comes out.

"They are at a prime age for these kinds of things," Briere continued. "I know they're going to be very excited about it. They're 9, 11 and 12. Three boys. They all play hockey, so, obviously, the All-Star Game is a big thing for them. That's probably the biggest thrill for me, having the chance to share it with them."

Briere and Giroux won't find out which team they are on until Carolina's Eric Staal and Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom choose up sides on Jan. 28. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette is one of the coaches.

"Now that I'm the add-on," Briere said, "I fall in line to be the last pick . . . Unless I'm the last guy picked, it should be fun."

Ever been the last guy picked for a team?

"Not that I can remember," he laughed.

This is the second All-Star nod for Briere and his first as a Flyer. In his other appearance, he was the 2007 MVP after notching a goal and four assists while playing on a line with Marian Hossa and Dany Heatley. He was given a new Dodge Nitro, which he gave to his sister. Her family still uses it.

He called that experience one of the greatest personal moments of his hockey career. This year, the trip will be even more meaningful.

"I always promised [the kids] that the next time I would go that they would be there," said Briere, 33. "I'm getting older. How many chances am I going to have to go back and share it with them? That's why I'm excited about it."

All systems appear to be go for defenseman Chris Pronger, who could make his return to the ice today against visiting Ottawa.

"He's felt good the last few days and I think there's a good chance he'll play tomorrow," Paul Holmgren said after Pronger practiced again yesterday.

Pronger's return would give the Flyers eight healthy defensemen. Oskars Bartulis has been scratched the last four games as Matt Walker returned from hip surgery. They would seem to be the odd men out if the Flyers wanted to dress six.

"If Chris Pronger is healthy and available, he has to go back in the lineup," Peter Laviolette said. "He's an elite defenseman in the National Hockey League. He didn't do anything wrong to come out. It was the injury that drove him out. When he's ready, he'll come back and, unfortunately, somebody will have to come out."

The Flyers have gone 9-4 without Pronger during this stretch.

"It's never easy sitting out, that's for sure," said Pronger, who broke a bone in his foot on Dec. 15. "You want to be out there helping your teammates win and play and battle."

Paul Holmgren will have a chance to lobby for Mike Richards' All-Star Game inclusion when he joins the league's head honcho today at 6 p.m. on the Sirius XM Radio show "NHL Hour With Commissioner Gary Bettman." The call-in number is 877-645-6696. The show also will be available on NHL.com.