Ryan Whitney & Cam Barker - Dragging The Blue Line

by Derek Zona on Jan 19, 2012 11:30 AM MST in Analysis

"...but we feel that the addition of Barker, at his age and his experience…that should take some of the weight away from those people that can play those minutes like Whitney and Gilbert and Barker should be able to jump right in there."

--Steve Tambellini, in August, on Cam Barker

$6.25 million - that's the combined cap hit of Ryan Whitney and Cam Barker. Though both are on the bench now, when they've been in the lineup, they've been completely ineffective. Outside of Wade Redden and Jeff Finger, it's not easy to find worse value in the NHL.

All of Barker and Whitney's possession numbers look downright awful, but it's the scoring chance differential per 15 is the most damning. Both men have had their time on ice limited by injury, so they may bounce back in a Roy Hobbs-like way, but to bounce from 40% to something useful isn't likely. Their scoring chance numbers show how much of a drag the two have been on the team.

Player	TSC	TSCA	CH%	CF/15	CA/15	DIFF/15
Ryan Whitney	56	74	0.431	3.303	4.365	-1.062
Cam Barker	33	48	0.407	2.644	3.846	-1.202
w/ Whitney Barker	88	119	0.425	2.990	4.043	-1.053
w/o Whitney Barker	414	483	0.462	3.493	4.075	-0.582

Each of the categories below is an "or", comparison.

	With Whitney or Barker			w/o Whitney or Barker			Whitney or Barker w/o
#	CF	CA	%	CF	CA	%	CF	CA	%
4	19	28	0.404	118	95	0.554	69	91	0.431
10	30	32	0.484	117	138	0.459	58	87	0.400
14	30	35	0.462	116	122	0.487	58	84	0.408
20	23	31	0.426	61	88	0.409	65	88	0.425
28	23	42	0.354	85	90	0.486	65	77	0.458
37	10	10	0.500	18	36	0.333	78	109	0.417
83	19	23	0.452	89	94	0.486	69	96	0.418
89	10	24	0.294	81	91	0.471	78	95	0.451
91	17	16	0.515	33	36	0.478	71	103	0.408
93	33	35	0.485	114	106	0.518	55	84	0.396
94	34	33	0.507	121	141	0.462	54	86	0.386

25	16	15	0.516	51	61	0.455	72	104	0.409
44	22	37	0.373	78	75	0.510	66	82	0.446
58	26	48	0.351	98	105	0.483	62	71	0.466
77	17	8	0.680	139	144	0.491	71	111	0.390

At the very least, Whitney's struggles can be explained away by injury. He's never been and never will be the vaunted top-pairing defenseman the local media tosses around, but he should be one of the very best second-pairing defensemen in the league. How and why he got back on the ice with such a terrible injury hasn't been explored by the local media, but shutting him down was the best thing the team could have done.

Barker, on the other hand, doesn't need an explanation. To label Barker a disappointment is faulty. He's been sub-replacement level for his entire career, and that hasn't changed in Edmonton. Regardless of draft pedigree, he's just not an NHL player. So it's disconcerting to find out from a source close to the situation that the Oilers believe Barker is their 3rd-best defenseman. They believe in him so much, they are interested in re-signing Barker to a multi-year deal.

Chasing bad minutes with big money is fine when the team isn't competitive, but eventually this management group is going to have to prove that they're capable of extracting value from contracts. These two deals aren't going to help their average.

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Comments

Stop the world, I want to get off

They want to re-sign Barker to a multi year deal? Based on what? I think Tambellini finally lost the rest of his marbles.

by TakeoutArtist on Jan 19, 2012 11:46 AM MST reply actions

If the Oilers re-sign Barker I might try to completely ignore his existence. I won’t mention him in tweets or posts and just hold out hope that he goes away.

Everyone knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It's a scientific fact.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and a frequenter of the time waster that is Twitter.

by ryanbatty on Jan 19, 2012 12:00 PM MST reply actions

Signing Barker to a multi-year deal is the move that should finally make Tambo go away. They will keep on losing and Katz will be forced to do something before the fans start rioting.

by gcw_rocks on Jan 19, 2012 1:02 PM MST up reply actions

Chasing bad minutes with big money is fine when the team isn’t competitive, but eventually this management group is going to have to prove that they’re capable of extracting value from contracts. These two deals aren’t going to help their average.

overpayment creates no better players / does not make good players

bring Sheldon Souray back!

by Screaming69 on Jan 19, 2012 12:28 PM MST reply actions

The thing about the Barker deal was that it was a 1 year deal. I didn’t mind the deal when it was signed, as we weren’t up against cap, and if he struggled like maybe of the advance metrics predicted he would, we would be rid of him by next year. I think everyone outside the mainstream media can agree that he has been horrible.

Now as playoffs are not an option, is there any sense for him to play any minutes this year when he is healthy, as the ice time could be better used to evaluate prospects within the system.

by George Roop on Jan 19, 2012 1:22 PM MST reply actions

Multi-year extension

What is your source on this desire to extend Barker?

by Oi on Jan 19, 2012 1:29 PM MST reply actions

a source close to the situation

Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.

by Derek Zona on Jan 19, 2012 5:19 PM MST up reply actions

There are rumors on multiple media and blog sites reporting the same thing.

by gvblackhawk on Jan 20, 2012 1:25 AM MST up reply actions

Off-topic:
Repik’s on waivers. How’d he do by the scoring chances last year, Derek?

by Passive Voice on Jan 19, 2012 1:42 PM MST reply actions

Barker had Speed

I seem to remember Barker being touted as the fastest guy in the draft not named Ovechkin or Malkin (something like that) and yet he seemed out of sorts since his days in Chicago…was it the previous ankle injury and operation in 2006, or the mono he had in 2005…I find it preposterous that the Oilers are even thinking of resigning him let alone talking about it…in my humble opinion there is hope for Whitney if he ever gets healthy, but Barker is a lost cause…you’d think Kevin Slowe would be able to pick that up…this management team is off the wall.

OT: That’s one nasty scar for Taylor Hall…he’s lucky it’s not worse…gee…just a couple of hours before the masochism starts in St Louis.

by Otiepitotie on Jan 19, 2012 4:52 PM MST reply actions

Note to Katz:

Fix the “pro” scouting DEPT. it’s glaringly aweful.

by admiralmark on Jan 19, 2012 5:19 PM MST reply actions

I don’t know that they’re the problem. The pro scouting group hasn’t changed a lot since the days of Lowe as GM. What’s changed since then? Tambellini.

Everyone knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It's a scientific fact.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and a frequenter of the time waster that is Twitter.

by ryanbatty on Jan 19, 2012 5:26 PM MST up reply actions

The Oilers are one of the worst teams I have seen...

Tambellini is the worst general manager in hockey. If Edmonton ever hopes to regain the Stanley Cup form of days gone by, they need to get rid of Tambellini. He is so incompetent….did he not see how Cam Barker played in Chicago….they were glad to get rid of him. So the Oilers pay him all that money and get no results. What a bust! Whitney was having a good year the beginning of last year and then the injury. Visnovsky was a great scorer last year and he is better than Ryan. Why did the Oilers trade him??? Did they not look at the injury history of Whitney? Hey, i like Whitney, but he had surgery on both his legs; if that is not a red flag, I don’t know what is. Tambellini must go!!!!!!!

by hocke on Jan 19, 2012 11:37 PM MST reply actions

Didn’t Visnovsky ask for a trade? Man I hated when he left. You just knew we’d get screwed on that one.

by David S on Jan 20, 2012 8:14 PM MST up reply actions

nothing wrong to make a shoot on Cam Barker for ONE year, but don’t resign him. Please

bring Sheldon Souray back!

by Screaming69 on Jan 20, 2012 12:15 AM MST reply actions

Dear Tambellini, we are tired of watching the Oilers lose!!

I haven’t been that hard on Tambellini up til now but if he re-signs Barker to an extension, consider me on the fire Tambellini bandwagon. Barker is mediocre when healthy and is highly injury prone. Definitely not worthy of a roster spot, let alone a contract extension. Seriously, are we all blind or missing something here??

by gvblackhawk on Jan 20, 2012 1:33 AM MST reply actions

My only question is

Would Barker merit a roster spot on any other team in the league?

I think you know where I’m going with this.

by David S on Jan 20, 2012 8:13 PM MST reply actions

I think that depends entirely on which team is stupid enough to hire Steve Tambellini if he doesn’t get a new contract with the Oilers.

The Edmonton Oilers – Rebuilding through character assassination since 1998

by Joe Girth on Jan 21, 2012 7:45 AM MST up reply actions

Phoenix or Islanders I would bet on

bring Sheldon Souray back!

by Screaming69 on Jan 22, 2012 2:37 AM MST up reply actions

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