Colorado Avalanche Fans on Rollercoaster with Tyson Barrie
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie keeps Avs fans on a rollercoaster with his style of play. He both delights and frustrates us.
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie — Avs fans have such a love-hate relationship with our rover. You love his offense, and you hate his defense. Sometimes all in one game. Or one shift. That is the rollercoaster of T-Brat.
It should come as no surprise that the lion’s share of his zone starts are in the offensive zone, usually around 62 to 64%. And that’s where the rub comes in. Barrie looks like a forward, and it’s the defense that goes most nights. That can make him a liability.
Being a fan of a team with Barrie on it means you’re on a constant rollercoaster. Let’s look at why.
Why We Hate Tyson Barrie
Hate is a strong word. It’s more that Barrie frustrates Avs fans on a pretty regular basis. Typically, that frustration is related to anecdotal evidence.
For example, here’s a post from former Mile High Sticking contributor Will Radke detailing why he got so frustrated with Barrie in the Stadium Series game:
Related Story. Tyson Barrie at the Stadium Series. light
By the end of the post, Barrie has so killed Will’s soul that he’s in “Whatever” land.
The best example for me of the rollercoaster of Tyson Barrie fandom comes when he’s on the power play. He’s our number-one power play defenseman, and he can’t keep the puck in the zone to save his life. Time after time after time he stands at the blueline and watches as the puck scoots past him then skates to retrieve it, thus burning valuable time.
Oh, and the drop pass to Nathan MacKinnon. It’s so predictable you could set the power play clock by it.
Like I said, plays like these come every game. And that’s why Avs fans are often pull their hair out when he’s on the ice.
Why We Love Tyson Barrie
Tyson Barrie has good regular-person statistics. This season he’s played 66 games so far, and he’s recorded 48 points (7 goals, 41 assists). While he might not necessarily beat his best season of last year — 14 goals and 43 assists for 57 points — he looks pretty good to make another 50-point year. He has one other 50-point year as well as a 49.
His advanced stats are also great. He’s been above 50% in CorsiFor four out of eight seasons — including 53.3% this year — and dead even one year. He’s always had a positive relative Corsi.
But it’s not just numbers folk who love Barrie. It’s because our T-Beaut does stuff like this:
Indeed, he’s often been our Mr. Clutch. In the 2013-14 season as well as the 2015-16 season he recorded five game-winning goals each. And he’s always been the go-to guy if you’re down a goal late in the third — see above goal for why. That’s as much a Tyson Barrie specialty as the power play drop pass.
What to do about Tyson Barrie
Trade him.
I don’t mean that for any arbitrary reason. Tyson Barrie is a valuable player, no question. We will miss his offense when he’s gone, no question.
But he does need to be gone. He turns 28 this summer, which is young in real life and not even terribly old for a professional hockey player. However, we’ve got Sam Girard and Cale Makar set to be our puck-moving defensemen next season. (Hopefully Conor Timmins, too — fingers crossed.) And if the Edmonton Oilers taught us nothing else, it’s that you can’t comprise a team of the same type of player over and over.
Plus, after this season, Barrie has just one year left on his current contract. He won’t be as valuable at next year’s trade deadline, but he’d be valuable at the draft or this summer.
Some people think I overestimate what our return for Barrie could be — an NHLer, a prospect, and a draft pick. But I think fans underestimate how much some GMs would drool over a right-handed defenseman who regularly puts up 50-point seasons and isn’t particularly injury-prone despite his small stature.
No, really, if Joe Sakic can get a similar kind of return to the above for Barrie, it will rival the Matt Duchene trade in terms his GM legacy. And it would help the team.
Barrie Does BC with Biz Nasty. dark. Next
I’ll miss our little rover, not just because I’ll no longer have someone to yell at during the power play. It’s been a lot of fun watching him grow from the oft-scratched rookie to a staple of the team. But I’m afraid T-Brat’s tenure with the Colorado Avalanche might be coming to an end.