Danny Briere is averaging a point a game this season, but he's played only nine. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)Flyers centre Danny Briere is ready to return to game action. Just not at the NHL level yet.
Briere will play a two-game rehab stint this week with the team's AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms. It will be his first action in more than a month because of a groin strain.
Briere, 31, has played in just nine games with the Flyers this season, recording five goals and four assists. He has missed the last 18 games with a groin strain, and 27 of the last 28 overall.
The shifty playmaker had surgery on Oct. 25 to fix a torn abdominal muscle, and he left a Dec. 2 game against Tampa Bay with an injured groin. He hasn't played for the Atlantic Division-leading Flyers since.
Briere is in the second year of the eight-year, $52-million US deal he signed with Philadelphia in July 2007 following a career-best 95-point season with the Buffalo Sabres.
In his first campaign with the Flyers, Briere recorded 72 points (31 goals) in 79 games and helped Philly reach the Eastern Conference final.
With files from the Associated Press
