It’s time to trade Tyson Barrie

My one regret with the last article was that the headline was a fish and bait and that wasn’t my intention. So I could see how someone would read this and is waiting for some kind of sarcasm or twist at the end. Well, there is no hidden Easter Egg here and I’m being serious.

If I’m being honest, this was the other article I was writing this weekend before being reminded that 16 is divisible by 2. I still think it’s worth writing and it’s meant as the sequel to the Nurse article.

Barrie is on a sweetheart of a deal (3.75 million x 1 year). He is on a current heater and his last 8 games saw him get 10 points!!!! He’s a 50 point Dman on the right side who can spark your offence and run your powerplay. I’d say he’s playing the best hockey of his life to be honest. He’s come exactly as promised. Great skater, can score and defends like a Right Winger. I cannot stress that lots of teams need a guy just like this. You don’t criticize a player like Barrie for not being good at D anymore than you should criticize peak Phil Kessel for not backchecking when he puts up 50 goals. However, this is a guy a lot of teams could use and win with.

So why not us? Can’t we use a great offensive player like this?

Sort of?

The Right Side

NOTE: This article is based on the fact that Ethan Bear comes back. If he does not and they know he’s gone for a very long time then the premise of this article is of. I wouldn’t do anything till I’m 100% positive Bear is able to play.

We currently have Bear out. He’s a RW. I’d argue our future hinges on him continuing to be, um, Ethan Bear. We also have Evan Bouchard playing a career high 18 minutes last game and looking good. Bouchard has had limited minutes and a lot of nacho time. He’s still putting up points. Larsson has been much more solid lately. By my count that is 4 guys that are very good at their jobs. There are only 3 spots.

It will be hard to convince me that a year from now, Bouchard isn’t the best one. At worse, he’ll be the second best one behind Bear. I’m okay with this. However, any way you cook it. I’m fine with Larsson, Bear and Bouchard swapping time on the right side starting in Winnipeg on Monday night (or whenever Bear is back).

Bouchard does not need any more AHL time (All Star), Junior time (named best D in OHL), Swedish time (he did great) or practice reps to get better (that would benefit a guy like Samurokov or Broberg but Evan is passed that point). What Bouchard needs is NHL minutes and time to make mistakes and grow his game. He needs familiarity in game situations. I’d rather this starts now then more pressbox time and around playoffs.

So why Barrie?

I’m the author that likes using stats like points and TOI. Barrie is really high at both right now. He’s top 10 in D scoring. He’s got great TOI. I want to be clear. My trade proposal is not an attack on Barrie. There will be no Barrie sucks, no mention of Corsi or +/- and no gifs of him looking like me in a beer league.

I want to trade Barrie because his value is super high right now!

I want to trade Barrie to free up Bouchard!

I want to trade Barrie because I’m an Oil fan first and a trade for him can address some weaknesses in our roster.

I want to trade Barrie to get a better forward or goalie.

I want to trade Barrie because he is underpaid and UFA THIS season (unlike Nurse who is locked in for 2).

I want to trade Barrie because I don’t want to see that ‘incoming cap space’ go to him when we have a younger version of him for cheaper in Evan Bouchard.

I want to trade Barrie because his return is higher than Larsson.

Everyday I wake up worried I’ll see a tweet saying the Oil have signed Barrie to a 6 x 6 contract.

This isn’t a cap dump or get this guy off my team. This is our best piece to improve another area on our team without losing out. Eg. today we talked about Nurse for Ehlers. Ehlers would definitely improve our offence but our left side would be Russel, Jones and Lagesson. It’s a draw at best today.

Can anyone tell me if we give Bouch more minutes, Bear returns and Larsson continues his solid play (with Lagesson) that our D will be that much worse?

A player like Rickard Rackell makes similar money and has 1 year left. He’d be an instant upgrade to our Top 6 and Anaheim seems to be rebuilding.

Doesn’t Arizona have 2 good goalies and not much offense? Can Barrie get us a Raanta or a Kuemper?

Back to Anaheim. Can Barrie plus something else good get us John Gibson?

I am sure there are a lot of guys making around 4 million that could help us out. I’m sure there are a lot of teams that would love Tyson Barrie.

My point? His value is super high and he can get us something to improve one of our Bottom 6, maybe top 6 and maybe goaltending.

The Oil have a long history of trashing their best players, lowering their values and running them out of town. He’s currently a media favourite playing the best hockey of his career. THIS is when you trade a guy.

No magic beans! I want a legit player back.