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.
