Colorado Avalanche: 3 Trade Destinations for Tyson Barrie

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are solidly at third place in the Atlantic Division. For the first time in a while they’re looking to make a playoff run, and maybe a deep one. The so-proud Canadiens are dying to get back to relevancy and even dominance — so proud they reportedly asked about the disgusting Slava Voynov.

T-Brat is much better. He’s younger and, you know, not disgusting. Plus just better.

Though Montreal isn’t struggling in the goal differential department, they do need some serious help on the power play — they’re at #30 in the NHL with just 13% conversion. They’re going to want to do a lot better than that for the playoffs, which is where Barrie can help.

What’s more, their defense is rather old. Captain Shea Weber is 33, and their next in command is Jeff Petry, who’s 31. They also have Dallas castoff Jordie Benn, also 31.  What’s more, they have just two right-hand defensemen on the regular roster.

So, RHD and power play specialist Barrie would come in handy.

Montreal has quite a few extra picks in the upcoming draft — two second rounders, fourth rounders and fifth rounders. Plus, they have their own first rounder. If they weren’t willing to give up their first rounder, I’d want a second and and fourth.

Sure, we’d want Max Domi or Jonathan Drouin, but realistically we might expect winger Artturi Lehkonen (7 goals, 16 assists) or center Philip Danault (8 goals, 25 assists).

Montreal also has a great stable of young forward prospects. Nick Suzuki is the crown jewel — he has 54 points (23 goals, 31 assists) with his major juniors team. However, I wouldn’t turn down Jake Evans, who has 10 goals and 1 assists with the AHL Laval Rocket.

So, a realistic trade:

We’d have to hope Suzuki panned out.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Columbus Blue Jackets represent a very interesting trade partner for the Colorado Avalanche. The two teams do like to tango. Plus, they have a couple of players who are rumored to be on their way out — Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. Both players have been linked in trade rumors to the Avs.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could get both in a trade for Tyson Barrie?

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Before we examine what that could look like, let’s see about the Jackets’ need for Barrie. They already have some good pieces on defense in Seth Jones, Markus Nutivaara, and Zach Werenski in particular. They’ve got good defensive prospects, too. That’s the point — they love to have a stellar defense.

They’ve got a hold of third in the Metropolitan Division. They’re fine with scoring, being a +7 goals differential. However, they’re #27 in the NHL for power play with a 15.1% conversion rate.

So, I don’t think they’d overpay for Barrie, but they’d be interested.

Would they risk a deep playoff run without Bobrovsky? That’s a tough sell. They may well want one of our goalies, Semyon Varlamov, back in the trade. Now I’m just getting fanciful, right? Well, why not — that’s what this all is.

Both Panarin and Bobrovsky are pending UFAs, so we want some substance back for Barrie and Varlamov. Boone Jenner is having an off year (9 goals, 12 assists), but he’s had 30+ point seasons three times before and came close his rookie year with 29.

Better yet, Pierre-Luc Dubois. The 20-year-old sophomore is at 45 points (18 goals, 27 assists) in 49 games. Hey, yeah, that’s a good player, but we’re also giving you an elite offensive defensemen, which don’t exactly grow on trees. He’s currently got more points than Seth Jones…

Columbus is draft poor this year — just three picks — and missing at least one the following year. I don’t think we’re going to pry any of those away. So, I’d like to see a couple prospects coming back our way — none of them really stand out to me, so let Joe Sakic and Jarmo Kekäläinen hash it out.

So:

Ok, ok. Let’s get more realistic.

Buffalo Sabres

Because the Sabres have phenom defenseman Rasmus Dahlin and another very good defenseman named Rasmus, Ristolainen, I hesitated to put them on this list.

However, at the time of writing, the Sabres had just dropped out of a playoff spot. They’re having trouble scoring, recording a -3 goal differential thus far. They’re #22 in the NHL for the power play with 16.8% conversion.

Buffalo is a bubble team, and one looking to solidify their own rebuild. However, they’ve been at it longer than Colorado. I’d think they’d appreciate an offensive defenseman like Barrie, especially since he can help take the pressure off Dahlin.

The Sabres have not one, not two, but three first-round picks thanks to dealing Evander Kane (to San Jose) and Ryan O’Reilly (to St. Louis). Plus, they’ve retained their own. So, they could potentially be inspired to put one of their picks in the pot for a sure-thing in Barrie.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Colorado pry goalie prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the deal. And, while I’d love for Rasmus Ristolainen to come our way, we’d be more likely to acquire rental forward Jeff Skinner or veteran forward Vladimir Sobotka.

I like it. What do you think?

I don’t want to get rid of Tyson Barrie. Yes, just like the rest of Avs Nation, I rag on him on a pretty good basis. The joke this year is Barrie giveth (a power play goal), Barrie taketh away (with a give away).

This is a way for Barrie to really giveth — by yielding a solid return for the Colorado Avalanche. Plus, all the above are Eastern Conference teams, so we won’t have to face his offensive acumen but twice a year.