Colorado Avalanche: Tyson Barrie to Make Preseason Debut

Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie did not play in Tuesday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild, but he will play in Wednesday night’s game against the Dallas Stars.

The Colorado Avalanche began their preseason on a good note with a win against the Wild on Tuesday night. They’ll look to continue that trend against the Dallas Stars, and they’re sporting a more veteran heavy lineup.

Here’s a link to the players that played Tuesday night. And, here’s a link to the projected roster for the Stars game.

With players like Tyson Barrie, Jarome Iginla, Blake Comeau, Joe Colborne, Francois Beauchemin — the list goes on honestly folks — the Colorado Avalanche will obviously be sporting a much more experienced lineup than Tuesday night.

Related Story: Little-Known Avs Crush Wild Vets

Today though, I’m here to talk about Tyson Barrie.

Tyson Barrie’s Chance for Stardom

I’ve been saying this ever since the Nolan Pratt hiring really — even more-so since the Jared Bednar hiring — but Tyson Barrie is going to be the biggest benefactor of the new systems.

Bednar’s systems are predicated on speed, quick decisions, and an aggressive style of play. When I think of Tyson Barrie, those are literally some of the first words that come to my mind. He’s fast as hell, makes extremely quick decisions with the puck and is a defensemen entirely dependent upon aggressiveness for his production.

More from Mile High Sticking

And, the game against the Dallas Stars marks the first chance fans will have to see Barrie in Bednar’s new systems.

Unfortunately, finding access to an actual video display is rather difficult. So, I don’t really know what to say about that. Apparently if you have access to Fox Sports North through your cable/satellite provider you can watch the game on the Fox Sports Go App.

Or, I suppose you might be able to find the game at a bar if they have NHL Gamecenter Live? Or obviously you could just attend the game and tell the rest of us who can’t attend the game how the boys looked.

If you’re one of those sorts — the game-attending sort, that is — then please comment on this post and inform the interested parties on what took place.

Anyway, there are some here at MHS who believe Tyson Barrie is going to be a Norris Candidate in the near future, possibly as soon as this season. That’s right Daniel Henderson, I’m referring to your Norris candidacy post currently in draft format. I even tackled the subject in one of my first posts ever at MHS.

Related Story: Tyson Barrie will be a Norris Trophy Winner

That was post No. 16 ever in my arsenal. Now — 128 posts later — Barrie becomes the subject once more.

Conclusion

As I said, if you have access to tonight’s endeavor then please enlighten all the interested parties as to what took place. There are a lot of veterans in tonight’s roster, and Avalanche fans will want to know how said veterans performed.

I’ve got my eye on Colborne, Barrie, Iginla, and Fedor Tyutin the most, but there are plenty of players getting a chance to showcase their skills against the Stars.

For example, J.T. Compher, Rocco Grimaldi, Joe Whitney and Ben Smith are the only players making an appearance in each game.

To me, that spells a desire to see those players in action more than any of the other players they are deliberating about.

Next: Avs Need to Try Things out Against the Stars

That would make sense, because they’re all depth players, and the Avalanche are looking for some bottom six depth.

They’re also the players with the most to prove perhaps. A sort of hard-line between making the NHL roster or being relegated to the AHL. In other words, the fourth line is up for grabs.

If you don’t have access to visual display then hit Marc Moser’s Altitude Radio Broadcast. Or mosey on over to the Pepsi Center and cop yourself some first-person viewing paper (tickets).

Either way — and I’m emphasizing this point — inform the audience that wants to be informed. Take your privileged access to some form of sight-based viewing and articulate it into words for the interested parties.

Thank you very much, and have a wonderful evening.