Toronto Maple Leafs: Tyson Barrie is the Missing Piece

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a markedly different team than that of last season, the biggest acquisition this offseason is that of top pairing right-shot defenceman, Tyson Barrie.

There has been debate surrounding whether the Toronto Maple Leafs defence has improved from the previous season. Kyle Dubas has acquired two right-handed defencemen who played top-pairing minutes for their respective teams this offseason, yet there are still questions surrounding whether this group is better than the previous seasons. Most surprisingly, even the acquisition of Tyson Barrie has been met with scepticism and somewhat muffled excitement.

It appears Toronto Maple Leafs fans are almost becoming too reserved in their valuation of their teams’ new players. In Tyson Barrie, the Leafs have acquired the Colorado Avalanche’s, who are a playoff calibre team, number one defenceman who also happens to be right-handed. Had the Leafs made no other additions (Ceci and Schmaltz), they still would have absolutely upgraded their defence from last season with Barrie alone.

Here’s why:

The Toronto Maple Leafs look to have lost Jake Gardiner, Nikita Zaitsev and Ron Hainsey from the line-up. Zaitsev and Hainsey’s roles will likely be shared around, with their 5v5 time going to the new additions and their PK minutes likely being shared between Ceci, Reilly, Dermott and whoever else plays on the bottom pairing (Schmaltz, Harpur or Marincin). Therefore, Barrie’s primary spot to fill is the role of Jake Gardiner.

Tyson Barrie has put up 57 (14-43-57) and 59 (14-45-59) points across his last two seasons. Those numbers rank him as the sixth highest producing defenceman in the entire NHL across that span. Also, in those past two seasons, Barrie has produced at a better point per game rate than any Leafs defenceman, including Morgan Reilly.

Tyson Barrie presents as one of the most offensively talented NHL defencemen. Across the previous two seasons, he is a top ten defenceman in total points, primary points and goals on both the powerplay and at 5v5. Behind only San Jose, the Toronto Maple Leafs currently have the next most offensive 1-2 punch on the back end. The fact that some are questioning whether Barrie is as good offensively as Gardiner isn’t a real conversation, when in fact, Barrie will seriously compete with Reilly for that number 1 spot on the powerplay.

Defenceman Powerplay Point Totals 2018-19 (Image Courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.com)

Whilst it’s well documented that Tyson Barrie is an offensively gifted player, he also comes with the caveat that most offensive defencemen come with, that he is implosive in his own end. This is something that appears to be somewhat misunderstood.

Tyson Barrie has been very heavily relied upon across the last few seasons for the Av’s. He is constantly utilised against top opposition and whilst he is painted with the same brush many offensive defencemen are, his numbers show something different. All offensive defenceman come with an expectation that they turn the puck over a ton, this is not the case for Barrie. Last season Barrie had a total of 41 giveaways, that is less than Gardiner, Dermott, Zaitsev, Hainsey and less than half of Reilly or Muzzin’s.

Data Courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.com and Hockey-Reference.com

When Barrie is on the ice, he has both positive shot production and shot suppression numbers relative to his teammates. As the table above demonstrates, Barrie also compares positively against the Leafs top utilised defenceman from last season in all metrics shown.

Image Courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.com

Perhaps the largest positive when looking at Tyson Barrie’s past season from the Toronto Maple Leafs perspective was his playoffs performance. Barrie was the clear number 1 throughout the regular season, however, once the playoffs began this was even more evident. Barrie’s ATOI jumped up to over 24 minutes a night (no other Av’s D played over 20 minutes) and he began being used more on the defensive end of the ice. Barrie didn’t shy away from his increased responsibility as he led the Av’s defence in points and was behind only MacKinnon in shot attempts throughout the 2 rounds.

It’s speculated that Tyson Barrie will likely pair with one of Morgan Reilly or Jake Muzzin for the 2019-20 season. In either of those two players, Barrie will be alongside a defenceman far more capable than who he has been paired with in the past. Last season Barrie spent the majority of his minutes with either Ian Cole or Nikita Zadorov. Whilst both are capable defensively, being paired with one of Muzzin or Reilly would likely provide much more puck-moving capability from both sides of the ice.

In conclusion, the Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired in Tyson Barrie, a defenceman with elite offensive capabilities and undeserved defensive scrutiny. He will likely pair next season with a defenceman of a different calibre than who has been with in the past. Whilst on a team with a number of defensively minded defenceman (Zadorov, Cole, Nemeth and Johnson) Barrie had the second-best shot suppression numbers. A top 4 of Barrie, Reilly, Muzzin and Dermott is likely the best top 4 the Toronto Maple Leafs have had in a very long time. This is the kind of move Leaf fans should be extremely excited about seeing and bring a ton of confidence heading into the 2019-20 season.

Now sign Mitch Marner and let’s get this thing going!