Toronto Maple Leafs Should Probably Re-Sign Tyson Barrie

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Tyson Barrie one year ago in a trade for Nazem Kadri.

Considering that the Toronto Maple Leafs also acquired a younger, cheaper, statistically superior centre who far better meets the needs of their team in this deal, it should be seen as a massive win for Dubus and co. 

Due to the popularity of Kadri (who does one thing well, but it’s something the Leafs have in abundance), the unfair unpopularity of Barrie, and the subtlety of Kerfoot’s game this is not a popular deal.

But popularity rarely gets it right (just ask any critic) and we must not worry ourselves too much about it one way or the other, since I’m more than certain that the Toronto Maple Leafs are happy with this trade.

One way in which the perception of this trade could get a boost (though by no means should the Leafs be motivated by such paltry things) is to re-sign Tyson Barrie.

As a rental with a $2.5 cap hit, you’d be hard pressed to find a non-entry level contract providing more value to an NHL team than Barrie did this year.

The guy put up numbers that border on elite, but so did Jake Gardiner and few Leafs fans fell in love with him either.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Tyson Barrie

Many people forget this because when the season ended the Toronto Maple Leafs power-play was in a bit of a slump, but up until that last week they had the best power-play in the NHL from the day they hired Sheldon Keefe.

Overall, they finished just slightly behind the Oilers for the second best PP in the NHL since they hired Sheldon Keefe.

And who quarterbacked that power play?

Tyson Barrie.

Not only did Barrie quarterback the NHL’s second-best PP, he was the 4th highest scorer among defenseman at 5v5 from the day the Leafs hired Keefe.

Barrie didn’t just rack up points and QB an elite PP, he put up ratings of 52% corsi, 56% goals-for,  53% high danger scoring chances and 52% expected goals.

So he scored at an elite rate, quarter-backed basically the best Power Play, and put up solid numbers at 5v5.  (Naturalstattrick.com).

The Leafs win when Barrie is on the ice.

When paired with Rielly, the two defied expectations and scored 60% of the goals.  Even if they were getting a bit lucky, they still had a 55% expected goals percentage.

You should also know that Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl put up elite numbers against the toughest possible competition.  If those guys are taking the toughest minutes, a Barrie and Rielly combo is unreal against secondary competition.  Especially when the Leafs have 2 x first lines.

Prior to the season, when he would have asked for a long-term extension for a rumoured $8 million cap hit, there was no chance the Toronto Maple Leafs were re-signing Tyson Barrie.

But this year’s crop of free agents faces the most uncertainty ever, thanks to the Covid 19 pause in the season.  Tyson Barrie would almost certainty accept a one year deal that allows him to test free-agency in a year when (hopefully) the NHL (and the world) can operate with much more certainty.

The Leafs won’t get better value on a contract extension than by signing Barrie.  In fact, Barrie is far and away the best RHD known to be available this summer.  And, even if Alex Pietrangelo does make it to free agency, he’s likely unattainable.