Tyson Barrie

Calgary Flames Sign Tyson Barrie

October 3, 2024 at 6:10 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain Leave a Comment

6:10 PM: The Flames have officially announced the signing, confirming the one-year, $1.25MM terms.

3:45 PM: Defenseman Tyson Barrie’s professional tryout agreement with the Calgary Flames organization appears to be a success. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports the Flames and Barrie have agreed to a one-year contract for the 2024-25 NHL season worth $1.25MM.

The Flames entered the offseason desperately needing help on defense after the team moved on from Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, and Oliver Kylington over the last calendar year. Barrie is no longer a steady top-four defenseman able to quarterback a top powerplay unit. Still, he serves as a veteran puck-moving defenseman Calgary can utilize during their transitionary period.

He will likely suit up on the right side of the Flames’ bottom defensive pairing next to Kevin Bahl making Brayden Pachal the team’s seventh defenseman. He likely won’t serve on either of Calgary’s powerplay units unless the team trades one of MacKenzie Weegar or Rasmus Andersson during the 2024-25 regular season.

It will be an important year for Barrie as he looks to prove he has more left in the tank after a disappointing finish to his tenure with the Nashville Predators. He was originally acquired from the Edmonton Oilers to fill the void left by Mattias Ekholm and got off to a strong start with three goals and 12 points in 24 games. Unfortunately, last season did not treat Barrie well as he finished with one goal and 15 points in 41 games largely serving as a healthy scratch most nights.

He’s only a few years away from regularly producing between 40-60 points from the blue line. If Barrie’s first half of the season goes well in Calgary he would immediately become a trade candidate at next year’s trade deadline.

Flames Sign Tyson Barrie To PTO

September 10, 2024 at 9:13 am CDT | by Gabriel Foley 6 Comments

Sep. 10: The Flames made Barrie’s PTO official this morning.

Sep. 3: In a twist of circumstances, the Calgary Flames are now reportedly nearing a professional try-out agreement with veteran defender Tyson Barrie. The move was first reported by PuckPedia and verified by TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, who added that the team hopes this will result in more than just a league-minimum contract. Barrie was previously rumored to be headed to the Edmonton Oilers on a PTO, reuniting with the team after one year away. As pointed out by PuckPedia, Barrie maintains the ability to sign a free-agent contract with any team while on his PTO with Calgary.

Barrie will skate for his fourth Canadian franchise on this PTO – having previously played one year in Toronto and three in Edmonton. They were two stops along Barrie’s journeyman career, spanning 13 seasons and four franchises. He continues to be a productive defender, rivaling 40 points in nearly every season between 2013 and 2023 and boasting a career-high of 59 points set in 2018-19. But Barrie’s defensive consistency has completely fallen away, leaving him hard to trust even on a stout Nashville Predators blue line.

Luckily, Calgary has plenty of holes to patch on defense, after turning over Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, and Oliver Kylington last season. The Flames have brought in a heap of new faces to handle the change, adding Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov, Kevin Bahl, Joel Hanley, and Brayden Pachal. Barrie boasts significantly more NHL experience and scoring upside than any of those options. That could be enough to win out a prominent role with a strong showing at training camp, especially amid competition a decade younger.

Any role on the Flames’ blue-line could come with major responsibility, as the team shops around top defenders MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson ahead of training camp. The departure of either player would immediately vacate 20+ minutes a night on Barrie’s right-hand side – making this veteran PTO signing timely insurance. But as it stands, the long-term outcome of Barrie, who managed just 27 points in 65 games over two seasons with the Predators, is still uncertain.

Oilers Considering Tyson Barrie On PTO

August 22, 2024 at 7:58 am CDT | by Brennan McClain 5 Comments

The Edmonton Oilers are looking for a puck-moving right-handed shot defenseman as they reimagine their defensive core after declining to match Philip Broberg’s offer sheet from the St. Louis Blues a few days ago. TSN’s Dustin Neilson reports the team has considered inking Tyson Barrie to a professional tryout agreement to help fill the void on the back end.

As discussed in a previous article, the Oilers’ defensive core left a lot to be desired even before the departure of Broberg with Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm representing the only true top-four options on the blue line. Barrie is only two years removed from scoring 10 goals and 43 points in 61 games for the Oilers on the blue line and could bridge the gap between the top-pairing and Edmonton’s less desirable options.

It will be interesting to see if Barrie can bounce back after a disappointing season with the Nashville Predators during his age-33 season. Originally acquired from the Oilers in the trade package that brought Ekholm to Alberta, Barrie finished last season with one goal and 15 points in 41 games. The relationship fractured between Barrie and the Predators early last season with the team making him a healthy scratch in early December and permitting him to speak to other teams about a potential opportunity.

Assuming that Edmonton eventually signs Barrie to a PTO and he makes the team out of training camp, he would give the Oilers more flexibility on their back end. The team could then put Barrie next to Brett Kulak on the second defensive pairing and move Darnell Nurse to a more comfortable role on the bottom pairing. Barrie is not necessarily a defensive liability but he saw his E +/- dip to nearly -13 in only 65 games with the Predators.

Barrie is not the only option that could interest Edmonton as Justin Schultz and Kevin Shattenkirk still sit without homes for the 2024-25 NHL season. The former has experience with the Oilers organization from earlier in his career, but certainly not as recent as Barrie. Unless Edmonton is confident that their current group can hold down the fort in the Pacific Division until next year’s trade deadline, all signs indicate one of these players will join the Oilers for the upcoming season.

Free Agent Profile: Tyson Barrie

August 10, 2024 at 10:31 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 3 Comments

It wasn’t too long ago that free agent defenseman Tyson Barrie was one of the better power play threats from the back end in the NHL and while his defensive game was a weak spot, he still was counted on to play a notable role. However, after a rough showing last season, the veteran still finds himself unsigned more than a month into unrestricted free agency.

Back in his prime with Colorado, Barrie was one of the top-end offensive blueliners but with them wanting a second center, they moved him to Toronto, the first stop where he struggled. Expected to anchor a top power play, he instead struggled; while he still managed to put up 37 points, that was one of his lower full-season totals.

The Maple Leafs opted not to retain him the following year and Barrie found his way to Edmonton as a free agent where, once again, he was expected to anchor a top power play. This time, he was more successful in that role for nearly three years before being salary-matching ballast in a move that brought the Oilers Mattias Ekholm, a much better fit for them with Evan Bouchard ready to take on the top offensive minutes.

While Barrie finished up the 2022-23 season relatively well after joining the Predators at that trade deadline, things went off the rails entirely last year. The team gave him permission to talk to other teams in early December to try to facilitate a move but one never materialized. At that point, Nashville simply decided to make him their seventh defender and once the calendar flipped to 2024, he played in just 12 games the rest of the way, including playoffs, meaning he hit the open market at the age of 33 coming off the worst season of his career.

Stats

2023-24: 41 GP, 1 G, 14 A, 15 PTS, -10, 16 PIMS, 65 shots, 18:19 ATOI, 46.0 CF%
Career: 809 GP, 109 G, 396 A, 505 PTS, -75, 259 PIMS, 1,755 shots, 21:07 ATOI, 49.6 CF%

Potential Suitors

At this point, there aren’t going to be too many options on the table for Barrie. If he wants a top-six spot, he might have to go into camp on a PTO with a weaker team but if he’s open to having a similar role as he did last year as a seventh option, he could be an intriguing pickup for a team looking for a secondary power play threat.

In the East, the Rangers lost one of their power play threats when Erik Gustafsson went to Detroit in free agency. Barrie would likely be in a battle for the sixth spot so while he wouldn’t be a regular, he’d give Peter Laviolette another option for games he’d be in the lineup for. The Bruins can’t do much roster-wise at the moment until Jeremy Swayman signs but if they have room to add an extra rearguard, they don’t have a lot of natural power play fits on the back end so Barrie could fit in a limited role. The Senators and Blue Jackets also feel like longer-shot landing spots depending on what happens between now and training camp.

Out West, if the Blues opt to look outside the organization for a Torey Krug replacement, Barrie fits that spot well as an offense-first player. Meanwhile, the Wild don’t have many offensive threats on their back end beyond Brock Faber so adding Barrie would give them some more options on that front, though they would need to massage the salary cap to fit him in.

Projected Contract

Going into the start of free agency, it looked like Barrie could have a case for a deal around $1.5MM. That still would have been a big drop-off from the $4.5MM he made in each of the last three seasons but it still would have been an improvement on what he’s likely to get now which is a contract around the minimum salary. Depending on where he lands, he might have to go the PTO route to get a deal as well. That’s quite the fall from grace for a player who is in the top ten among points by a defenseman over the past decade.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Smith, Schenn, Second Round, DiPietro

May 3, 2024 at 8:39 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 1 Comment

Forward Cole Smith was held out of Friday night’s Game 6 lineup due to a lower-body injury, per the team (Twitter link). Smith was replaced by Juuso Parssinen making his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut. Parssinen took on a larger role than Smith’s received, stepping into the team’s second line and bumping Mark Jankowski down the lineup. Only three Predators forwards, including Smith, have failed to record at least one point through their first five playoff games. Parssinen will need to quickly join that list, with Nashville down 3-2 in the series.

The Predators also welcomed Luke Schenn back to the lineup, after he missed Game 5 with illness, shares The Athletic’s Thomas Drance (Twitter link). Schenn’s absence made way for Tyson Barrie to return to the lineup. Barrie brought speed and tempo to the lineup, even recording an assist in Nashville’s eventual 2-1 win. But with elimination so close, the Predators opted for the more physical and defensive presence of Schenn.

Other notes from around the league:

The NHL has announced the start times for the Second Round’s Eastern Conference matchups. The round will begin with Game 1 between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers on Sunday, while the Florida Panthers will take on the winner of Toronto versus Boston on Monday. Start times for each of these games haven’t yet been announced. This schedule marks a quick turnaround for Boston or Toronto, while each of Carolina, New York, and Florida will have at least five days off.
The Boston Bruins have returned goaltender Michael DiPietro to the minor leagues, per NHL.com’s Mark Divver (Twitter link). DiPietro has served as Boston’s emergency third-string goalie for a handful of playoff games, though he’s yet to play his first game as a Boston Bruin. He instead spent all season with the AHL’s Providence Bruins, where he recorded 18 wins and a .918 save percentage in 30 appearances. He’ll now return to a prime role for Providence, as they prepare to take on one of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Charlotte, or Hartford in the Atlantic Division’s Semifinals.

Central Notes: Barrie, Barlow, Spurgeon

December 28, 2023 at 1:00 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu 1 Comment

The Nashville Predators announced today that defenseman Tyson Barrie has suffered an upper-body injury and is out on a day-to-day timeline. Barrie did not play in the team’s loss last night against the Carolina Hurricanes.

It’s been a difficult season for Barrie, who has not performed up to expectations under the new regime in Nashville. The Predators have reportedly given Barrie permission to seek a trade. Seeing as the 32-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent, Barrie’s performance this season is of heightened long-term importance to the player, so it makes sense that he would look elsewhere for a more advantageous situation in order to enter the open market on the strongest footing possible. But before he can even consider that, he’ll now need to focus on getting back to full health.

Some other notes from the Central Division:

One of the Winnipeg Jets’ top prospects, Colby Barlow, is returning to the lineup of his OHL team the Owen Sound Attack. (News via Jets reporter Jamie Thomas) Barlow was selected 18th overall by the Jets at this past summer’s draft and is in the midst of a crucial development season with Owen Sound. He has not played since November 8th, but when healthy scored nine goals and 14 points in 14 games.
Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon has a “decent chance” of returning from injury to play in the team’s game Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo. That would be a big add for the Wild, as Spurgeon has not played since December 10th. The Wild have fared well in his absence but they surely miss the heavy minutes he plays. If nothing else, his return could help lessen the workload placed on the shoulders of rookie Brock Faber, who has gotten close to 30 minutes in several games since Spurgeon got hurt.

Central Notes: Barrie, Lehkonen, Fleury

December 8, 2023 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Over the weekend, news got out that Predators defenseman Tyson Barrie and his camp had been given permission to seek a trade. Speaking recently with 102.5 The Game (video link), GM Barry Trotz expressed his frustration over the news being leaked and how Barrie himself handled being made a healthy scratch for the first time in his career last weekend. The 32-year-old has typically been one of the better offensive producers from the blueline in his career with ten straight seasons of at least 38 points. However, he has been held without a goal and has just ten assists in his first 23 games this season. Barrie is in the final year of his contract which carries a $4.5MM AAV and with his offensive struggles so far, it might not be a deal that’s easy to move. Meanwhile, in his latest piece for The Athletic (subscription link), Pierre LeBrun noted that the Preds aren’t particularly inclined to use their last salary retention slot to help facilitate a swap which will only complicate those attempts further.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Dallas Stars

December 3, 2023 at 8:51 pm CDT | by Josh Cybulski Leave a Comment

As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Dallas Stars.

Who are the Stars thankful for?

Joe Pavelski

There were a number of different ways that we could have gone here, but it is hard to dismiss the agelessness of 39-year-old Joe Pavelski.

Many pundits thought the Dallas Stars had made a big miscalculation back in July 2019 when the club signed a then 34-year-old Pavelski to a three-year $21MM contract just ten days before his 35th birthday. And one season into the deal, it sure looked like the pundits were right. Pavelski looked lost and tired as he suffered through one of the worst seasons of his NHL career. But since that first year, he has registered 91 goals and 142 assists in 242 games.

Now part of those numbers are because Pavelski is playing fewer minutes than his career average, and he is also playing with very skilled teammates, but it is hard to discount all the intangibles Pavelski has brought to the Stars dressing room on top of being a bonafide top-6 forward. Pavelski hasn’t had to sacrifice any of his attention to detail when it comes to his defensive responsibilities and continues to remain in the conversation when it comes to Selke Trophy considerations year after year. All of this in his 18th NHL season, while he continues to play under a very team-friendly cap hit making just $3.5MM this season (plus $2MM in bonuses).

Pavelski might not be the biggest star in Dallas, but his reliability at both ends of the ice, and his ability to make everyone around him better continue to impress as he pushes towards his 40th birthday.

What are the Stars thankful for?

Their scouting staff.

Very few teams have hit on late first-round picks and second-round picks the way the Dallas Stars have over the last decade. The Stars were fortunate to pick the likes of Miro Heiskanen third overall. But most of their depth was built off smart picks later in the draft. All-star goaltender Jake Oettinger was a late first-round pick 26th overall in the 2017 NHL entry draft, Jason Robertson was selected 13 spots later at 39th overall and has emerged as a top-flight offensive talent. Roope Hintz was a late second-round pick in the 2015 draft while Wyatt Johnston was selected 23rd overall in 2021. The list goes on and it goes to show just how Dallas has built a team that can contend year in and year out.

The stars currently boast some of the best depth in the NHL evidenced by Johnston centering a third line that features Jamie Benn. They haven’t just hit on draft picks as they’ve also been able to make smart free-agent signings (see Pavelski above) and craft trades along the way. The scouts in Dallas at both the amateur and pro level have done a commendable job identifying available talent that other NHL clubs are undervaluing.

What would the Stars be even more thankful for?

Ryan Suter dialing it back.

At 39 years old it is unlikely that Ryan Suter is going to find another gear suddenly. The 11-time all-star defenseman has seen his offensive game fall into a decline since 2020, while his defensive game has been slipping away since 2015. Suter was once considered one of the top two-way defensemen in the NHL, but time has caught up to the Madison, Wisconsin native.

In Dallas, Suter has been thrust into a role that is probably outside of his current skillset as he has played significant minutes with Miro Heiskanen. Suter is averaging over 20 minutes a night, and while that is a steep decline from last season, it is still a rather large number for one of the oldest defensemen in the NHL.

The drop-in ice time has mostly come from Suter being removed from the Stars’ power play. With his speed and footwork in decline, the Stars have made the call to primarily use Suter at even strength on their top pairing. The good news for Suter is that he is partnered up with Heiskanen and can benefit from the youngster’s strong skillset. Suter hasn’t been terrible this year and has mostly been fine, but given the Stars’ Stanley Cup aspirations, it will be important that Suter finds another gear, or the Stars look for someone who can better log Suter’s minutes and perhaps bump him down the depth chart.

What should be on the Stars holiday wish list?

A defenseman.

As mentioned above, Suter could probably benefit from a more sheltered role in the Stars’ defense core. Esa Lindell could also use some help as well as he too has had his struggles. All this points to the Stars needing to shop for another defender.

Dallas is in the fortunate position to have a decent farm system from which they could trade, and also have some young roster players that could entice teams to part with a defenseman. Although I would avoid trading Johnston if possible.

The Stars could benefit from a right-side defenseman, and while it wouldn’t improve Suter’s position on the depth chart, it would allow Jani Hakanpää to slide down into the bottom pairing. Hakanpää has had a rough start to the season and would likely welcome some sheltered minutes on a 5-6 pairing.

If Dallas opts to trade for right-shot defensemen there will certainly be options available to them. Tyson Barrie of the Nashville Predators is out there, as is Chris Tanev of the Calgary Flames. If the Stars wanted to be bolder, they could take a run at Noah Hanifin as he would slot in beautifully on their top pair next to Heiskanen.

Cap space will be an issue for the Stars, but as we inch closer and closer to the trade deadline it will become less of an issue. Dallas is on the cusp of breaking through in the playoffs and one more defenseman could be just the thing that gets them over the hump and back to the Stanley Cup finals.

Predators To Scratch Tyson Barrie, Give Him Permission To Speak To Other Teams

December 2, 2023 at 11:58 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

Tyson Barrie’s time in Nashville hasn’t gone the greatest as the offensive blueliner is still looking for his first goal of the season. Now, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Predators have opted to scratch Barrie for today’s game against the Rangers while also granting him permission to speak to other teams about a potential trade.

The 32-year-old was acquired near the trade deadline last season from Edmonton for salary-matching purposes in the Mattias Ekholm deal. Between the two teams, he played in 85 games (tying an NHL record for most games played in a single season), collecting 13 goals and a career-high 42 assists. At a minimum, there was some enthusiasm that Barrie could produce at a somewhat similar clip this year, giving the Preds either a good trade asset for the March 8th trade deadline or a short-term veteran to try to keep around.

Things haven’t gone according to plan, however. Despite averaging 3:15 per game on the power play, Barrie has been limited to just three assists in 22 games with the man advantage, a situation where he often piles up the point. He hasn’t fared much better at even strength either, notching just six helpers while logging over 15 minutes a game at five-on-five. His 18:51 ATOI in all situations is his lowest since 2013-14.

That’s not exactly how Barrie wanted his contract year to go; he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Meanwhile, it’s fair to say his trade value has certainly dropped as well.

Barrie carries a $4.5MM AAV (with no trade protection) which is going to be difficult for many teams to fit in given how many are using LTIR or are very tight to the Upper Limit of the cap. As a result, GM Barry Trotz will either have to retain part of his contract (they can hold back up to half) or take a similar-sized deal back to facilitate a swap. However, it’s worth noting that Nashville has already used two of its three retention slots (on Ekholm and Ryan Johansen) so retaining on Barrie’s deal would take that open off the table for anyone else until July 1st.

Barrie has shown in recent years that he can still be a higher-end offensive blueliner. But that hasn’t been the case in Nashville and now, his camp will begin the process of trying to see if there’s another option for him elsewhere. More specifically, they’ll look to see if there’s another team with a viable need for him that can also afford his contract. From being one of the higher-scoring blueliners in the league last season to this; this is certainly quite the drop in value in just a few short months.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Edmonton Oilers Make Changes To Scouting Staff

August 22, 2023 at 4:11 pm CDT | by Josh Cybulski 1 Comment

The Edmonton Oilers announced today that they have made several changes to their scouting staff as the team gears up for training camp. The club has named Rick Pracey as Director of Amateur Scouting while mutually parting ways with Tyler Wright.

The 52-year-old Pracey has been an amateur scout with the Philadelphia Flyers since 2014 and brings over 20 years of scouting experience to Edmonton. He has previously worked as a Director of Amateur Scouting with the Colorado Avalanche, a role he served in from 2008-14 during which time the team selected Tyson Barrie, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan O’Reilly, and Matt Duchene.

A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Pracey’s professional playing career was short-lived as he played college hockey in Canada for both the University of Windsor and Wilfrid Laurier University, as well as a one-year stint in the UHL. After his playing career was over, Pracey joined the Avalanche in 2001 in an amateur scouting role and built his career from there.

For Tyler Wright, he moves on after just over four years with the Oilers. The 50-year-old came over to Edmonton in July 2019 along with Ken Holland after working alongside Holland with the Detroit Red Wings for six seasons. He served as Director of Amateur Scouting for all four years and was in the same role with the Red Wings for over six years.

It will be interesting to see where he lands given that the move was a mutual one for Wright and the Oilers. Wright’s work likely went by the wayside this year as the Oilers drafted just three players in June’s NHL entry draft after trading away picks in the Mattias Ekholm and Kailer Yamamoto trades.

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