Blockbuster trade ends Tyson Barrie era in Colorado

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What should have been a franchise-changing draft class in 2009 for the Colorado Avalanche ended today in the third trade of a proven player. After Ryan O’Reilly and Matt Duchene had already seen their Colorado tenure end, the Avalanche traded Tyson Barrie today to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The deal sees Barrie (with 50% of his salary retained) go to Toronto along with Alexander Kerfoot and a 2020 sixth-round pick in exchange for Nazem Kadri, Calle Rosen, and a 2020 third-round pick. That’s a lot of moving parts but we’ll start with Barrie.

With one year remaining on Barrie’s contract, the Avalanche felt the time was right to move Barrie as he was facing unrestricted free agency next summer and Colorado wasn’t too keen on paying him with a blueline loaded with talented young puck movers.

The addition of Bowen Byram with the fourth pick of this year’s draft seemed to put the final nail in Barrie’s coffin as Cale Makar and Sam Girard had ascended to the NHL roster. Coming off a career-high 59-point season, the Avs felt the time was right for a player they were going to have trouble fitting into a long-term cap sheet.

Going with Barrie is Kerfoot, who was a restricted free agent after posting back-to-back 40-point seasons for the Avalanche. He signed with them two summers ago as a college free agent after completing his four-year career at Harvard and choosing not to sign with the New Jersey Devils, who owned his draft rights.

Barrie and Kerfoot join Carl Soderberg as outgoing players for the Avs who made up a significant portion of their scoring beyond their vaunted top line last season. In fact, the three combined for exactly 150 points, leaving the Avalanche with an obvious need to make up ground in their search for secondary scoring.

Insert Kadri, 28, who will immediately slot in as the unquestioned second line center. Kadri’s numbers were down last year as he posted 44 points (16g, 28a) in 73 games played but was relegated to the third line center job after Toronto signed John Tavares last summer to pair with Auston Matthews.

Prior to the arrival of Tavares, Kadri had posted back-to-back 30-goal seasons in 61 and 55-point campaigns. Kadri is an excellent play driver who also excels in the defensive zone and faceoff circle. That was a theme for the Avs today after signing Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in free agency to be their fourth line center and who excels in the same areas, albeit without any of the offense.

Another key to acquiring Kadri is his extremely team-friendly contract. He’s due to make just $4.5M per year for the next three years, making him one of the best bargains in the league should he return to the 50-point range he was in before the arrival of Tavares.

Kadri’s arrival as the second line center is a major step forward for the Avs after a day of mostly middle of the road moves that left many fans scratching their head. Given what Colorado gave up in this deal, that’s likely to continue happening.

The real wild card in this deal is the presence of Rosen. A 25-year-old swift-skating defenseman from Sweden, Rosen was undrafted and came to North America two years ago after playing in the SHL for a number of years. Rosen just finished off a season with Toronto’s AHL club, the Marlies, in which he recorded 46 points (7g, 39a) in 54 games played.

Rosen re-signed with Toronto this summer for two years at $750K per year on a one-way deal before the trade. He now joins an Avalanche organization where it’s unclear where he fits. He regularly took on top competition in the AHL last season and produced offense at a very high level.

With Barrie now out of the lineup and Ian Cole injured until at least December and Erik Johnson potentially not ready for the start of the season, it may present an opportunity for Rosen to outplay Kevin Connauton, Mark Barberio, and Ryan Graves for a roster spot. The presence of Byram also looms as a potential roadblock for Rosen but he represents an intriguing player with meaningful upside if the team can find opportunity for him.

After the deal, Colorado’s forward lines are projected to look something like:

Landeskog – MacKinnon – Rantanen
Jost – Kadri – Burakovsky
Wilson – Compher – Donskoi
Nieto – Bellemare – Calvert

Kadri’s fancy stats below indicate a hell of a player is on his way to Colorado, regardless of how you feel about the value: