Colorado Avalanche Should Keep Tyson Barrie

Tyson Barrie is an integral part of the Avs line-up, and with current injuries to Erik Johnson and Anton Lindholm, he’s more important than ever. Don’t trade him Joe!

With the NHL trade deadline approaching fast, the Colorado Avalanche will have some decisions to make. It is always more complicated than will the Avs be buyers, sellers, or watchers. If they are to be sellers, who do they sell and for how much? If they are to be buyers, who and what will they have to sacrifice? No matter what the Avs decide to do, the number one priority should be to keep Tyson Barrie.

The Avalanche are hanging on in the Western Conference playoff hunt by a thread. Even though they are only three points outside of the last wild card spot, they are looking up at the Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks. They are also fighting with the Minnesota Wild, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars; all of which are within 4 points of the Avs. That’s a lot of teams to be competing with.

The Avs are in a unique position. It seems as though breaking the bank to acquire a big piece is out of the question, due to the number of teams they have to overtake. Going after someone less expensive also looks like a waste, as the Avalanche are more than just one or two small moves away from being a legitimate playoff contender.

Selling players may be the route to go, but Joe Sakic has to be smart and judge the market. Players like Blake Comeau, Nail Yakupov, Mark Barberio (depending on health) and Jonathan Bernier should only be moved if the price is right

One player I continually hear Avalanche fans call for Sakic to trade is Tyson Barrie. Before I list my reasons why I think that is not the smart move, I will say there is a case to be made. Teams all over the NHL would kill for a top-4, right handed, offensive defenseman. He’s 26 and will turn 27 before the start of next season and carries a cap hit of 5.5 million dollars for another two years. This is a pretty easy contract for a team to take on, especially if the cap is to go up next year as projected.

Especially at the trade deadline, teams will certainly over-pay for a player like Barrie. He could easily be a piece that puts a team over the edge into serious Stanley Cup contention. The Avs do also have a good amount of promising defenseman in the pipeline in Cale Makar, Conor Timmons, Nicolas Meloche and current Avs D-man Samuel Girard.

Considering the current scenario, the Avs are in a good position to get a very good haul for Barrie if they want. Sakic has shown patience with trades in the past, so it seems he won’t budge unless he gets a price he wants.

Here’s why the Avalanche shouldn’t trade Barrie.

#2 – He’s great in transition / on the rush

Barrie plays an offense first game from the back end, there’s no denying it. Fans have criticized him in the past for his turnovers. He does turn the puck over more than some of the other defenseman on the team, but that’s because he handles the puck so much more. So yeah, it’s going to look like he has more turnovers, but he also starts the play much more often.

In some of his more advanced stats taken by public.tableau.com, Tyson Barrie ranks in at least the 50th percentile in every category, including the defensive ones. For possession entries per 60 minutes and possession entry percentage into the offensive zone, he ranks 89th and 93rd percentile respectively.

Basically, he’s stupid good with the puck on his stick when entering the offensive zone. Erik Johnson and Samuel Girard have similar numbers, but Barrie is the best at it consistently.

#3 – The Avs will need him for future success

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One of the arguments for trading Barrie is the amount of quality defenseman the Avs have in the pipeline. Cale Makar has the makings and the looks of a premier offensive defenseman in this league. Conor Timmons and Nicolas Meloche look like they will become great two-way defenseman for the Avs. These are three big names that are likely to become mainstays on the back end.

Likely, however, is the key word. There are no guarantees with prospects. One or two of those players mentioned above may not turn out to be all they’re hyped up to be. They also may take longer to develop than anticipated.

So, in scenario A, all of these defenseman work out and are impact NHL defenseman. That gives the Avs Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Nikita Zadorov on standard NHL contracts and Makar, Timmons, Girard and Meloche on entry level deals. That is a fantastic blue line for not that much cap space. Think of how successful the Nashville Predators have been in the past few years with a strong blue line (relax, I know Roman Josi and P.K. Subban are elite defenseman and contribute a lot to their success).

In scenario B, one or two of Makar, Timmons, Meloche and Girard don’t pan out to be NHL players. The Avs still have Barrie to provide the offense the players and coaches know he can, and the back end is still quite strong.

#4 – Offensive defenseman hold their value much longer than other defenseman

The second argument I hear from Avalanche fans for trading Tyson Barrie is “he will never have a higher trade value than now”. Technically, this is true. He’s in the prime of his career at 26 and won’t get any younger.

Offensive defenseman like Barrie, however, hold their value much longer than other defenseman. It comes down to their style of play. I’m not sure if fans have noticed, Barrie doesn’t exactly throw his body around. He doesn’t get hit all that often either (outside of being absolutely drilled by Dustin Byfuglien a couple years ago) and he’s a great, fluid skater.

The P.K. Subban for Shea Weber trade in the 2016 offseason is a good example. It was so lopsided in Nashville’s favor for a few reasons. Yes, Weber is older, but the reason it was determined by most sane people in the hockey community was Weber only has a few more years of top quality defensive play left in his body. P.K. Subban, while he still can play physical, is much more offensive-minded than Weber. Subban will surely play to an older age than Weber purely due to style of play.

Another example of this is Andrei Markov. Markov played with the Montreal Canadiens as one of their best offensive defenseman for the 16 years. After his contract expired last offseason, he was attempting to get a deal done with the Canadiens at 6 million dollars a season for two years. He’s 39 years old.

Markov was probably high-balling Canadiens’ management and didn’t really expect to get a contract at that price, but he probably could have gotten a contract for around 2.5 to 3 million. The point here is Markov was still an effective offensive threat from the back end in his late 30’s.

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Tyson Barrie’s trade value is certainly high now, but it’s not going to drop off a cliff for a long time and it may not even make a drop of any significance for the next few years. If there is a point in a few years where Tyson can be included in a big trade, he should still add a great deal of value.