After looking it up, it really looks like Briere was kind of rushed into the role (spent like 4 years doing day-to-day with the Flyers ECHL team, and then spent 1.5 years as a "Special Assistant to the General Manager" for the NHL team before being made the GM). Not saying Briere couldn't have been a good pick for the GM, but it really didn't seem like they gave him the time to fully learn the job at an NHL level before getting it. Conversely, Conroy spend 3 years as a Special Assistant to the GM, and then another 9 years as an AGM before getting his shot at the GM role, so by the time he got there he had already been around the job in a managerial capacity for years and has likely had full responsibility for various parts of the job for periods of time as well so he didn't learn it as he went on.