When the Toronto Maple Leafs begin their post-season on August 2, they may have a secret weapon on their blue-line.
The experiment between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tyson Barrie hasn’t go as planned.
Barrie was underutilized by Mike Babcock but did have a pretty good season once the Leafs changed coaches.
He may not have met expectations, however, that could all change when the post-season begins in a few days.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Tyson Barrie
When the Leafs acquired Barrie and Alex Kerfoot in the Nazem Kadri deal, they hoped they would be receiving this type of player below.
Here's a clip of Tyson Barrie sending a 70-foot stretch pass to Alexander Kerfoot who scores on the breakaway to bless your timeline. pic.twitter.com/QiTxC5jym3
— Michael (@mic_mazz) July 2, 2019
Instead, many Leafs fans have reacted like this:
Watching Tyson Barrie play defense: pic.twitter.com/ETgOjRzCOX
— AJ (@aigemac) January 13, 2020
It should be noted that when the Leafs acquired Barrie, they knew they weren’t going to be getting a shut-down defenseman. Instead, they were hoping for a player who could control the puck and be a huge asset to his offensively gifted teammates.
When you pair an offense-first defenseman in Barrie with the skill of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner, you’d expect to see a lot of stretch passes and offensive chances like that video above.
Unfortunately, he’s had his worst offensive season as a professional, so when his offense isn’t working, it shines a negative light on the 29-year-old.
Leafs Will Get A Better Tyson Barrie This Post-Season
Barrie is going to play on the third pairing with Travis Dermott and deserves to be a bottom pairing defenseman at this current moment.
However, I wouldn’t be shocked if that pairing turned into one of the better duos the Leafs have.
Barrie has seen a lot of criticism this season, but a lot of blame can be put on Mike Babcock.
Babcock put him in a tough situation and didn’t allow him to play the free-flowing game he naturally plays, so when Sheldon Keefe was hired, Barrie’s game drastically improved.
Under Mike Babcock:
- 0 Goals, 7 Assists, 7 Points (23 Games Played)
- 0.30 Points Per Game
Under Sheldon Keefe:
- 5 Goals, 27 Assists, 32 Points (47 Games Played)
- 0.68 Points Per Game
Barrie has a career average of 0.62 points per game, so under Keefe you can see that he went back to his regular point totals. (naturalstattrick.com).
If Barrie had played at the same pace for the entire season, he would have finished with nine goals and 56 points, which would have been his third best points season in nine NHL seasons.
Not only has Barrie improved drastically under Keefe, but his shooting percentage is the lowest it’s ever been in the NHL. Barrie has a 3.0 shooting percentage this season, compared to his career average of 6.5 percent.
I haven’t broken down every single shot attempt he’s had this season, but with 554 games as a sample size, you have to think that he was snake-bitten and that average is bound to rise.
If Barrie’s shooting percentage was equal to an average year, he would have finished with double-digit goals and the criticism probably wouldn’t have been so bad.
When you play in a city that loves you for eight seasons, it’s hard to adapt to a new team and play at your highest level in year one, especially under a coach that didn’t let him fly.
Now that Barrie has found his groove under Keefe and is 13 months removed from being traded, I would expect him to perform at a high-level.
Playing on the third-pairing will be a good spot for him, as he won’t have to eat up huge defensive minutes like Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin, but he’ll still be able to contribute on the power-play.
Also by being paired with Travis Dermott, who is also an offensive-defenseman, the two of them should be able to move the puck up the ice quickly, creating more rushes in the offensive zone, compared to being trapped in their own end.
The last and arguably the most important reason why Barrie will perform at a high-level this post-season is because he’s an Unrestricted Free Agent this off-season.
After being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Barrie experienced huge pressure to perform and rise his contract stock. Now that his stock is low after a below-average season, Barrie will need to use this playoff run (no matter how long it takes) as an audition to teams to sign him to a big deal.
Barrie had a slow-start that stopped any momentum for a monster contract, so he’ll be even more motivated to perform when the Leafs return to action on August 2.
I hope I’m right about Barrie because if he can perform to his potential, it would give a huge boost to a mediocre defensive-core.