The Colorado Avalanche have a very valuable commodity in Tyson Barrie. However, they may be better served by trading him to one of these three teams.
The Colorado Avalanche need to trade Tyson Barrie. Barrie is an elite, puck-moving defenseman. As MHSer Hils points out, Tyson is in the following position within the organization:
- Holds the franchise record for points by a defenseman
- Holds the franchise record for assists by a defenseman
- Needs 6 goals to take the franchise record for goals by a defenseman
- Holds the franchise record for game-winning goals by a defenseman
If you’re more into fancy stats, Avs fan Jibblescribbits came up with this:
It looks like Barrie is in the Kris Letang area of elite.
Recently Matthew Freedman of Action Network did a comparison of Barrie and elite Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi. Here are some of the stats:
- Josi: 24.82 time on ice, 20.61 Corsi For (year) | 24.75 time on ice, 21.92 Corsi For (month)
- Barrie: 22.89 time on ice, 18.14 Corsi For (year) | 23.84 time on ice, 20.58 Corsi For (month)
- Career (Since 2011): Barrie – 0.63, Josi – 0.62
- Past Year: Barrie – 0.85, Josi – 0.68
- 2018-19 Season: Barrie – 0.84, Josi – 0.70
- Past Month: Barrie – 1.00, Josi – 0.64
According to Freedman, you should bet money on Barrie.
No surprise Tyson Barrie leads all Avalanche defensemen in scoring with 39 points (6 goals, 33 assists), putting him on-pace for another 50+ point season — it would be the third of his career and he was just one point shy in 2015-16.
So, our T-Brat is elite. Why would we want to trade him? Two reasons. For one, his trade value is high. GM Joe Sakic got the world for Matt Duchene — he could probably get the same for Barrie. Despite recent success, the Colorado Avalanche are still in rebuild mode.
The second reason is that — the rebuild. Colorado has three players very much in the Tyson Barrie mold at various stages within the system: Sam Girard (NHL roster), Conor Timmins (injured reserve, headed for Eagles soon, fingers crossed), Cale Makar (unsigned, killing it at college.)
All three of those players are some form of puck-moving defenseman who can score and quarterback the powerplay. The team doesn’t need four Barries, especially since they can use the return for him to bolster their rebuild.
The 27-year-old Barrie has one year after this season on a contract with a cap hit of $5.5 million. So, he’s not even a rental — Joe should be able to get at minimum an NHLer, valuable prospect, and a draft pick.
So, let’s look at three teams who may consider trading for Barrie.