Colorado Avalanche: Evaluation and Areas of Improvement for Mark Barberio

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Mark Barberio had a short but rather brilliant season for the team. However, he’s got some room for improvement.

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Mark Barberio did not have the season he wanted. Injuries plagued him — he missed from January 23 to April 5 with a mysterious lower-body injury. He played just 46 regular season games, though he played all six playoff games this season.

Barberio is one of the Avalanche’s reclamation projects. They claimed him off of waivers from the Montreal Canadiens in February 2017. He played 34 games after the waiver claim with Colorado.

Even though Mark didn’t have a great season, the Avalanche must have seen enough of what made them claim him off of waivers and place him in regular rotation in the first place. On May 15, the team signed the 28-year-old to a two-year contract worth $2.9 million.

So, since we’ll be seeing Barberio for the next couple years, let’s look at his abbreviated season.

Evaluation of Mark Barberio’s 2017-18 Season

Goals: 3
Assists: 10
Shots: 52
Shooting percentage: 5.8
Hits: 26
Blocks: 62
Takeaway vs. giveaway ratio: 8:16
CF%: 48.9%
CF% Rel: 1.1

When you’ve got puck-moving defensemen like Mark Barberio, you have that awful giveaway to takeaway ratio — in his case, it’s a straight 2:1. He gives the puck away twice as much as he takes it away.

Though Barberio has decent enough size — 6-foot-1, 199 pounds — he’s not known for being a physical player. He recorded 26 hits last season, though he did block 62 shots.

When it comes to taking shots of his own, that’s also not Mark’s strong point. He only recorded 52 last season. In all, he earned 13 points (3 goals, 10 assists). Believe it or not, that matches his career best which was last season, two goals and 11 assists spread out over his time with the Avs and Habs.

This was Mark Barberio’s worst CorsiFor year — he’s usually 50% or above. Even during the dreadful Why Us 48-point season, Barberio was at a 50.9 with the Avs, That said, his CorsiFor relative was in the positive, which is not something ever Avalanche player can say.

Areas of Improvement for Mark Berberio

More from Mile High Sticking

I’m just going to say it — Mark Berberio should never have cut his hair. Like Samson after he sheared his locks, Barberio became weak after he cut his long locks last summer. How else to explain his mysterious absence?

Joking aside, I’d love to see Barberio work on his possession stats. That was a real area of weakness for him last year. He’s not big and physical, so he’s got to bring something to the table.

The one thing he does bring to the table is what I alluded to earlier. He is a very capable puck-mover. I said it before when he returned — I hadn’t realized how much we missed that while he was gone. It was like an instant flash of skill as soon as Barberio took the ice again after returning from his injury.

MORE FROM COLORADO AVALANCHE EVALUATION AND ADVICE:

Mark Barberio is tapped to be a character guy. He’s not part of the youth movement. Instead, he’s a veteran journeyman who’s going to show the youngsters of varying skill levels how you handle uncertainty on your team. He can also provide a bit of experience on a youthful blueline.