Justin Barron joining Eagles, signs ELC

The Colorado Eagles have become a comfortable home for first-round picks of the Avalanche this year and that only gets truer today as Colorado’s top selection from the 2020 draft has signed his entry-level contract and joined the Eagles.

Justin Barron, 19, has always been on the fast track to the AHL due to his age and high level of success in the QMJHL. Today is just confirmation of a process that was put into motion when the Avalanche sat tight and waited for Barron to drop to them on draft night last fall.

The organization was thrilled with Barron getting to them as it took an injury-plagued year in which Barron dealt with blood clot issues throughout for him to slip to 25, where the Avs selected him.

With surgery to clean up his clotting issues (hopefully) for good, Barron had a great year with the Halifax Mooseheads this season. Even though play was interrupted due to the ongoing pandemic, Barron managed to get into 33 games this year (compared to 34 last year) and he produced 31 points (8g, 23a). That was a leap from the 19 points he produced in his draft year.

As Barron and the Mooseheads finished up a couple of weeks ago, they hinted at what was coming next for Barron as the entire organization sent out multiple tweets thanking Barron for the memories produced during his Halifax tenure and wishing him well in pro hockey.

Barron’s entry-level deal actually begins next year so he has signed an amateur try-out contract so he can jump into action with the Eagles as quickly as possible. The main takeaway from this setup is that Barron, unlike recent graduates to pro hockey Alex Newhook and Sampo Ranta, will not be considered for the Avalanche roster this season.

The goal is to get Barron into as many of the final 10 games of the Eagles season as they can and just see how he does. With just 67 games played across the last two years in the Q, what Barron needs more than anything is to just play.

He can use this spring’s experience with the Eagles as a springboard into training camp next year and should be in competition for bigger minutes with the Eagles, though I would be surprised if he was a top-pairing defender right away.

Unlike at forward, the Eagles defense is set to be light on prospects next year and should give Barron an opportunity to play a substantial role, especially as the season progresses.

With his impressive combination of size (6’2″, 200 pounds already) and skating, Barron is part of the next wave of intriguing defenders for the Avalanche. After graduating Cale Makar, Bowen Byram, and Conor Timmins in the last two years, there were questions about what’s next but Barron’s great year and the big leap we saw from Drew Helleson at Boston College gives hope that another wave of young reinforcements is on the way.

While Barron and Helleson don’t have the kind of upside you see from Makar or Byram, they could absolutely fill in on lower pairings as quality defenders with defined roles that suit them well. With Barron slated for the AHL next year, a strong performance could kickstart that conversation into an NHL debut sooner than later.

No need to rush him into it, however, as the Avalanche are just fine at the NHL level right now. For now, Barron can look forward to settling into his new home in Loveland and join a fun, prospect-filled Eagles team.