Avalanche season grades: Tyson Barrie

Tyson Barrie completed his seventh NHL season in 2017-18, all so far with the Avalanche. Despite being one of the most tenured players on the team, the defenseman is still just 26.

OVERVIEW

Among NHL defensemen who posted 50 or more points this past season, only Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson had a better points-per-game average than Tyson Barrie’s 0.84 (Karlsson’s was 0.87). If not for missing 14 games, from Dec. 23-Jan. 30 with a fractured bone in his right hand, the native of Victoria, B.C. might have had a shot at taking the league scoring title for D-men, which ultimately went to Washington’s John Carlson.

His 57 points in 68 games was a career high. Thirty of his points came on the power play, and his 52.6 percent of power-play point percentage was the highest of any of the other league leaders.

That, as they say, is the good news. And, to be sure, that’s very good stuff offensively. At the other end of the ice? Well, not quite as good. His 38 official giveaways ranked third-most on the team. His expected plus-minus (based on where shots came from, for and against) was a -13.6, lowest on the team. He started shifts in the defensive zone only 30.5 percent of the time. His actual plus-minus was -15.

But then again, we’ve always known that Tyson Barrie isn’t a shutdown D-man. At 5-10, 190, he doesn’t have the size for that. He is what he is, which is a very productive offensive defenseman. That’s why he gets paid $5.5 million, for each of the next two seasons.

BIGGEST MOMENT

On Feb. 20, the Avalanche stared at a three-goal deficit late in the second period to the lowly Vancouver Canucks. This, surely, would wind up as a bad road loss. Wrong.

Barrie scored a goal and added four assists – all on the power play – in the Avs’ 5-4 overtime win over the Canucks. That set an Avalanche franchise record for most points in a game by a D-man.

That win did a lot for the Avs’ morale, especially because it was the first of two times they would miss Erik Johnson for an extended period with an injury. Barrie set up Nathan MacKinnon for the winner in OT. It was quite a night for the young man, who grew up near Vancouver and always has a lot of friends and family in town for games there.

WHAT’S NEXT

With two years left on his contract, it’s highly likely Barrie will return for another season and be expected to fill the same role. With 2017 first-round pick Cale Makar at least another calendar year away from joining the team, the Avs will need Barrie’s production from the blue line to continue.

Sure, Barrie’s name still comes up occasionally in trade rumors. With Sam Girard emerging as a real two-way force, and Makar and Conor Timmins on the way, Barrie might become expendable at some point, perhaps the perfect trade piece to acquire more help up front.

But not yet. I don’t expect Barrie to go anywhere this coming season. There aren’t many D-men out there who can average close to a point a game offensively. He will be an unrestricted free agent in two years, so the Avs need to be mindful of that. But, for 2018-19, I expect Barrie to be a key member of the club.

FINAL GRADE

B+

Yeah, I know the defensive play still has plenty of issues, which explains the computer-generated grade above. But like I said above, he’s never going to be a shutdown D-man. He is what he is, which is a point-producing player. Establishing a career high in points, in his seventh season, is a clear showing of continued progress. He was better on the power play than he’s been before. Mostly, I think, because he shot the puck harder and more frequently than before. The 2.6 shots on goal he averaged, in fact, was a career high.

Barrie was leading the league in points among D-men when he suffered that broken bone in the hand, and it took him a bit to get the full strength back, even when he returned officially. So, this grade is deserved, in my opinion. He’s not perfect, no. But he had a very good year.