Profiling free-agent defenseman Tyson Barrie after career-worst season

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 its seventh defender.  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.  However, 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 $1.5M.  That still would have been a big drop-off from the $4.5M 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 — 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 10 among points by a defenseman over the past decade.