When a team embraces a rebuild, so much is made of the timeline.

How long will this take? When will it all fruit into victories and maybe even a parade?

As Danny Briere has stewarded the Flyers’ rebuild, he has never disclosed a firm timeline. And that has been a wise approach. Why should he pin himself into a corner by offering a prediction?

“I wish I could give you a timeline, but I’d be lying to you,” Briere said in April 2023 as the Flyers’ interim general manager. “I don’t know if it’s two years or five years or eight years, I really don’t know at this point.”

But as the Flyers shot off fireworks Friday with a loaded offer sheet to Ducks center Leo Carlsson, Briere very much revealed how he feels about his team’s timeline. This doesn’t sound like a rebuild anymore.

Because rebuilding teams don’t sacrifice four first-round picks. That’s what the Flyers will have to pay Anaheim in compensation if the Ducks don’t match their five-year, $90 million offer to Carlsson.

In his tenure, Briere has always put a high value on first-round picks. His first trade as GM revolved around acquiring a first-round pick. He subtracted a key player from the 2023-24 team that was in playoff position for a first-round pick. He has made 15 picks in the opening two rounds of the draft and six in the first round.

So for Briere to surrender four first-round picks over the next four seasons says a lot about the Flyers’ timeline.

He believes the Flyers are ready. Ready to take the proverbial big step. Ready to attract high-end talent. Ready to become a contender. Ready to show the fans it’s not all about patience and the long game.

Briere might not say it. After all, he never publicly mentioned the playoffs as a goal last season, but his players knew that it was. The Flyers snapped a five-year playoff drought and won a first-round series before being swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes.

With a playoff run, the rebuild went into another gear. With this huge offer sheet, Briere is putting his chips in, showing he’s willing to play now. The word rebuild doesn’t really fit anymore.

The timeline is pretty clear. The Flyers are playing in the present.