Colorado Avalanche: Move Tyson Barrie to Forward

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie should transition to forward to make up for his defensive deficiencies.

I guess I can see the appeal that spurs players like Colorado Avalanche skater Tyson Barrie to choose to play as an offensive defenseman. In a way, he gets the best of both worlds. He gets to rove around, jumping into the most exciting aspects of the play.

Unfortunately, like many offensive defensemen, the actual defense tends to go by the wayside, especially if they don’t play a physical game.

This is especially true for little Tyson Barrie and his 5-foot-10, 190-pound frame. The most physical aspect of his game is that he can take a big check even from behemoths like Winnipeg Jets skater Dustin Byfuglien and laugh it off. That’s not exactly helpful to your own team.

It doesn’t have to be like that. Plenty of small players play big man games — even fellow Avalanche defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk plays a more physical style despite being just about Barrie’s size. Even forwards like the retired Doug Gilmour or the retired Danny Briere were known for getting gritty despite their size. Barrie doesn’t.

Instead, Tyson Barrie seems to chase the good times. He roves around, getting into the thick of things, but roving back out when the play gets too intense. He does not finish his checks, and he’s not one for winning his battles. And for the love of Patrick Roy, Barrie can’t keep the puck in the zone to save his life.

When the Colorado Avalanche are healthy — ie., when Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon are in the lineup — a rush play suits their talents. That type of game can hide Barrie’s deficiencies because everyone’s skating around at top speed.

With Duchene and MacKinnon out with knee injuries, it seems prime for Barrie to step up. After all, he’s now one of the top-three skilled puck handlers on the team, with captain Gabriel Landeskog and winger Mikkel Boedker.

Instead, the Colorado Avalanche game by necessity has slowed down. The team needs to grind now, not rush. Unfortunately, Tyson Barrie isn’t built for grinding, and that’s disastrous when he’s a defensemen. For two different Philadelphia Flyers goals watched him standing there, looking so-small, as the puck whizzed by him. (Give him credit — at least he was in front of the crease.)

Here’s an example — one that allowed the Flyers to tie the game:

That doesn’t even take into account the times I saw him just give up on working the corners and lose his battles in the defensive zone. A defenseman cannot lose his battles in the defensive zone — that’s supposed to be his prime responsibility.

Even head coach Patrick Roy has remarked on this. He’s joked that Barrie allows as many scoring chances as he creates. Less jokingly he’s remarked that Barrie’s defense is the first part of his game to go,

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And that brings me to my point — it’s time to rein Tyson Barrie in and put him in the forward lineup. Colorado is short a forward anyway, since Mikko Rantanen was the only call up to replace the missing Duchene and MacKinnon.

I realize there are a host of positioning problems moving a player from defense to forward. However, several players have made the move successfully — including the aforementioned Byfuglien and Brent Burns. Even the Avalanche’s own Nick Holden has dabbled in offense, and he has nowhere near the offensive capabilities of Barrie.

I say this move would rein Barrie in because he’d have to attend to all the responsibilities of a winger. He’d still have to backcheck and get into position on the forecheck. However, his defensive capabilities would decrease — he could effect his occasional poke check, which appears to be the sum total of his checking abilities. Otherwise, it’d be all about positioning.

Naturally, changing Barrie to forward would necessitate switching up the power play. I haven’t loved him as the quarterback anyway. Let him cycle around near the front of the net — Erik Johnson can quarterback the first unit and Francois Beauchemin the second. Either one is a prime two-way defenseman.

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Tyson Barrie is currently fifth on the Colorado Avalanche in scoring with 47 points. If he were freed up from his defensive responsibilities, he’d probably start racking up the points. It’s time to transition him to full offense as a forward — at least give it a try while Duchene and MacKinnon are out.