Tyson Barrie
Defenseman, 5-foot-10, 190 pounds
Barrie’s minus-16 rating tarnished an otherwise fine statistical season for the Avalanche’s 24-year-old. His 49 points ranked 14th among NHL defensemen and his 13 goals were 15th. He’s right there among the top echelon of offensive defensemen. But that minus-16 suggests that you have to take the good with the bad with Barrie, who is playing a second-pairing role, but doesn’t have the frame to defend the league’s bigger forwards. Barrie’s risk/reward stamp also includes his puck-skating role. He’s prone to turn the puck over in the defensive end or neutral zone because he’s the guy being asked to skate it up ice and play around 24 minutes per night. Barrie is a highly sought offensive defenseman/power-play specialist who might be better served in a third-pairing role, playing 16-18 minutes per game as opposed to 22-26. But he’s still young and developing, and there’s no question he can evolve into a top-pair defenseman of the Kris Letang mold.
WATCH:
Highlight: Barrie had a hand in all three goals, scoring twice, in a 3-2 victory at Edmonton on Feb. 20. He had a game-high seven shots and among his 25:11 of ice time was 3:02 on the power play.
Lowlight: Barrie and partner Nick Holden were each minus-3 in the third period of a Dec. 9 game against visiting Pittsburgh. The Avs took a 2-1 lead into the third period, but lost 4-2.
Future: Barrie is a restricted free agent, looking to sign his third NHL contract before next season. The last one was a two-year, $5.2 million deal that paid him $3.2 million last season. His next one will be his biggest, and because of his high risk/high reward style of play, negotiations might lead to arbitration — or perhaps an offer sheet from another NHL team. Barrie isn’t eligible for unrestricted free agency until July 1, 2019, so he could sign another two-year deal and still be an restricted free agent at the end of it.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or @mikechambers
