Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff made some waves this afternoon in reporting that he believes that the Calgary Flames are closing in on a professional tryout agreement with veteran offensive defenceman Tyson Barrie.
Before we get to a few notes on the pros and cons of bringing in the veteran of over 800 NHL regular season games, here is how the Flames currently project on the blueline without the 33-year-old offensive defenceman.
Current Flames Projected Blue Line
Weegar-Miromanov
Bahl-Andersson
Bean-Pachal
Hanley
Blueliners on the outside looking in include Jeremie Poirier, Ilya Solovyov, Yan Kuznetsov, and the highly touted 18-year-old Zayne Parekh. 25-year-old Jonathan Aspirot also may get a look at some point during the season.
So, with expectations rather low this season, why entertain the idea of bringing in Tyson Barrie? A single goal to go with 14 assists in 41 games last season was a harsh dropoff from the 13-goal, 55-point campaign of the year prior.
That kind of decrease usually carries a story to it. Tyson Barrie was no exception to that trend.
Buckle up to your recliner for this one.
Let’s start this story in early December 2023. Tyson Barrie was scratched for a Saturday game against the New York Rangers in what Nashville Head Coach Andrew Brunette called a “reset.”
Have you ever unplugged your computer in an attempt to reset it, only to get even more problems when it fired back up?
What if your computer demanded first powerplay deployment and publicly leaked a trade request within hours of you unplugging it?
Barry Trotz was faced with that same proverbial blue screen in Nashville. Elliotte Friedman reported on HNIC later that evening that Barrie and his representation had been given permission to pursue a trade out of the Predators organization.
“We were very disappointed it got out, because there’s only about four people in the world that knew about it,” said Trotz a few days later on 102.5 The Game. “I was very disappointed in that. It didn’t come from the Preds, I do know that 100 percent.
Obviously, someone felt that it should be out there and they put it out there. We will get on the phones and say ‘Tyson’s not happy in his situation right now, are there any takers?’ There might be, might not. And I’m sure him and his agent will be doing the same thing.”
Believe it or not, that Saturday leak happened in the middle of a back-to-back.
Believe it or not, Barrie didn’t get to play the next day in Buffalo either.
Trotz also addressed the organization’s management of the player as well as the player’s management of the organization.
“I was very disappointed in the way Tyson handled it and in his group. But at the same time, he’s got to play for us right now," said Trotz. "And like I said when I first came here, I want you to come here to win. I don’t want you to come here to retire."
"So, if you don’t want to be part of the organization or feel like you could contribute, then we’ll work together to get you in a better situation. But I’m not going to do anything to hurt the Predators or the team’s chances of winning based on a player’s reaction to sitting out a game.”
OK.
So that was obviously one of the uglier moments between a player and an organization last season. Why are the Flames bringing in this guy that
might (probably) will have similar expectations regarding first powerplay deployment?
First of all, there is a history there. Barrie played for Flames Head Coach Ryan Huska for four seasons in Kelowna of the WHL – five if you include a seven-game cup of coffee in 06-07 when Huska was an assistant coach.
Tyson, along with Mikael Backlund, Tyler Myers, and Jamie Benn, won a WHL Championship with Ryan in 2008-09. There is certainly a bit of history there.
You also don't record 109 goals, 396 assists, and 505 points in 807 games as an NHL defenceman without an immense level of talent.
There are a few issues with signing Barrie to a contract at the conclusion of his potential PTO, but number one with a dot comes down to one word.
Entitlement.
The Calgary Flames and their fanbase are no strangers to the word. If you really want to explore the sheer amount of glut that coaching and management have jammed into the lineup over the last three decades, we could push this to +3000 words.
Barrie had two assists and was -5 in nine games before he was sat on Dec. 2 for demanding his slumping results be rewarded with first powerplay deployment.
Given that the Preds usually only run one defenceman on each unit and the guy he would likely be bumping, Roman Josi, had eight points in that same span.
There is room for growth. Maybe Tyson Barrie saw that no competitors were biting after that maneuver and would adjust his expectations if he signed a contract with the Flames, but he’s joining a team that plays almost the exact same system.
Both Calgary and Nashville are playing counterpunch, collapse hockey. Josi aside, Calgary is lacking in elite offensive talent almost as much as Nashville was last season. Barrie would be expected to play in the same rigid structure as he was in the year he would like to forget.
The two team’s first powerplay units also similarly leaned heavily on a backdoor one timer from a winger. Calgary had Yegor Sharangovich, and Nashville, Filip Forsberg.
The Flames organization should have learned this lesson less than a year ago.
Following an extended stretch of being mired on the third pairing and kept at arms distance from any powerplay deployment, Nikita Zadorov’s agent, Dan Milstein, leaked a trade to the public.
En lieu of getting a better return at the deadline, Flames General Manager Craig Conroy took a third and a fifth round pick in order to move on sooner than later.
Canadian markets have a tendency of reading a bit too hard into potential nothings. Perhaps this is merely a favour that Ryan Huska is doing for his former player. A strong preseason might land him a decent contract somewhere.
But should we bump Barrie up above Andersson and Weegar after just a solid camp? What will be the response from the player if the Flames don't? Barrie’s camp didn’t even have the grace to wait one day so that the team could finish out their back-to-back without distraction.
Should the team take away possibly Jeremie Poirier’s
one preseason game he’ll get to prove that he might be able to run the point even better than all three of them?
Does Brayden Pachal have to eat popcorn for most of the season after making so much progress last year? No defender played with more jump than the now 25-year-old Estevan, Saskatchewan product. Also worth noting is that the Flames already have four right handed defencemen on the roster with Pachal, Rasmus Andersson, Daniil Miromanov, and MacKenzie Weegar.
That last question will certainly tell us much that we need to know about the direction of this franchise.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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