Sean Couturier: why did he just hire Pat Brisson as his agent?

Even if the Philadelphia Flyers are eliminated, the fact remains that the club can still, by necessity, be in the news in the hockey world.

And even if it’s by force of circumstance.

According to Frank Seravalli, Flyers captain Sean Couturier has changed agents. He has left Erik Lupien, Gilles’ son, to join Pat Brisson’s team.

Erik Lupien, Gilles’ son, has just lost the only regular NHL player he counted among his clients.
(via @Puckpedia) https://t.co/CS5EOCupWC

– Marc Antoine Godin (@MAGodin) April 30, 2024

If you check out Cap Friendly, Couturier has six years left on his contract at $7.75 million. So it’s probably not to negotiate a better contract any time soon that he’s changed agents.

Unless…

What if the Flyers wanted to buy him out? That said, I’d be more than a little surprised to see the Flyers buy Couturier when you consider the impact he’d have on the Flyers’ bottom line for another 12 years.

Until 2030, it would be intense, as can be seen in the “cap hit” column of the following table:

(Credit: Cap Friendly)

However, aside from the salary footprint of a potential buyout, I don’t believe the Flyers would have named him captain in order to buy him out this summer or next, under similar conditions.

I get the impression that everyone knows he’s not tradeable due to his contract and injuries, and that the chances of him joining Carey Price and Shea Weber on Robidas Island (or finishing his career on the long-term injured list) are good.

The feeling I get is that Couturier has taken on an influential agent to earn his respect. Whether it’s from John Tortorella, who passed on him last year, or whether it’s to negotiate certain aspects of the end of his career with Daniel Brière, I believe Brisson is there for the job.

But maybe the change of agent means something else, whether it’s a squabble with his former agent, an upcoming coup d’éclat or something else along those lines.