What is fair value for Tyson Barrie?

Yesterday, it was announced that Avalanche defenseman, Tyson Barrie, had filed for salary arbitration.  The ins and outs of what that exactly means can be found here, but it essentially indicates that the Avs’ camp and Barrie’s camp are very far apart on what his next contract should entail.

Naturally, this raises a question:  what exactly is fair market value for Tyson Barrie?

Typically, the best way to find the answer is to look for comparable players.  To do so, I searched for defensemen within four years of his age who played more than 150 NHL games and averaged 35-60 points a year. I also restricted the group to players whose current contract kicked in no more than three summers ago.

As you can see, Barrie is in with some very elite company.  However, when you take the average of the contract values, $5.9 million AAV for around 6 years turns out to be right in the middle.  Add in a little more for inflation, and a cap hit of $6 to $6.5 million over a six year term seems very reasonable for his caliber of player.

Unfortunately, if a deal can’t be reached before arbitration, the waters become much murkier.  No other player on the list signed a second bridge contract, let alone one from a mediator.  All were locked up for at least 4 years by their second and/or third NHL deals.

Either way, arbitration hearings are scheduled between July 20 and August 4, so the decision on Barrie’s future will be made within the month.

(numbers via Corsica and General Fanager)