The Nashville Predators and defenceman Tyson Barrie appear set for what may be a messy split. Chatter surrounding a potential Barrie deal started a few days ago. It followed a report that surfaced the veteran defenceman was given permission by the Predators to discuss a trade with all teams across the league. The report came out shortly after Barrie sat out back-to-back games as a healthy scratch. He didn’t take it well, according to sources.
Barrie’s party was indeed given permission to talk to other teams. However, Predators general manager Barry Trotz isn’t happy any of this was leaked to the public. In a recent appearance on Nashville sports talk show 102.5 The Game, Trotz didn’t hide his frustration. He made it clear he was frustrated with how the situation has been handled.
“Different players react to it differently. I didn’t like the way he reacted to it,” Trotz said on Barrie’s handling of being healthy scratched.
“Very disappointed it got out, because there’s only about four people in the world that [knew] about any conversation about anything and somehow it got out. I was very disappointed about that process. It didn’t come from the Preds, I do know that 100 percent. Obviously they thought that it should be out there, and they put it out there.”
Did the Scratch Sour the Relationship Between Barrie and Trotz?
It isn’t very common to hear a general manager call out a player and his agent in this way, which shows you just how frustrated Trotz is by this entire situation. Barrie appears to be frustrated in his own right, as he has yet to score a goal this season while seeing his ice time cut by head coach Andrew Brunette.
Barrie, who the Predators acquired in a trade last season from the Edmonton Oilers, is in the final year of a deal which carries a cap hit of $4.5 million. While the 32-year-old is often criticized for his defensive play, he has proven throughout his 790-game career that he is very offensively gifted. Teams around the league looking to improve their power play will likely express some interest in the Victoria, BC native.
More must-reads: