#1 – He’s crucial to the power play
The Avalanche had the dead last ranked power play on the road this season before Tuesday’s game against Vancouver. Then they exploded for 5 PP goals and won the game 5-4. Barrie played a massive role, scoring the game tying goal and recording 4 other assists.
I’m not about to say he’s going to score 5 points on the PP every night, but he ran every one of those PP’s to perfection. He’s the most trusted defenseman Jared Bednar has for offense on the back end. Colorado doesn’t win that game without Tyson Barrie.
Samuel Girard has all the makings of a Tyson Barrie type player, but for goodness sakes, he’s only 19. He has so much growing to do as a full-time NHL player. To think he can just slide in and fill Barrie’s role on the powerplay is absurd.