Re-Signing Unfairly Maligned Defenseman Should be Toronto Maple Leafs Top Priority

The Toronto Maple Leafs fans have a history of ganging up on players that, as a group, they’ve decided to not like.

Larry Murphy and Jake Gardiner are two of the most famous (and embarrassing) examples of mob-think in Toronto Maple Leafs history, something that pretty much every team in every sport’s fans are guilty of at one time or an other.  It’s just human nature, after-all.

Sports are about fitting in. They are about control.  They are about predictability. They are about putting some order in a world that doesn’t have any.

When a team doesn’t live up to expectations, it’s only natural to place the blame.  It’s not always done correctly (because part of placing blame is a subconscious denial of luck and randomness) but it is always done.

This year, whether you like what Kyle Dubas is doing and recognize that when Michael Hutchinson didn’t play, the Leafs were essentially the Tampa Bay Lightning, and that the odds of your playoff opponent saving 98% of the 5v5 shots over five games are about one-in-a-trillion, or your the type of person who can’t stop making puns on the GMs name, the odds are you don’t want the Leafs to bring back Tyson Barrie.

But objectively speaking, you should want that very much.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Tyson Barrie

The Leafs need a right-handed defenseman, Tyson Barrie is a right handed defenseman.

The Leafs play a puck-moving, high-possession style that relies on precision passing.  Tyson Barrie is one of the best passers in the NHL.

Want a player who can perform in the playoffs? In five games this year Barrie put up a 53.42% Corsi, 57% expected goals rating, and the Leafs got 65% of the high-danger shots while he was on the ice.  (Naturalstattrick.com).

Those are elite numbers.

What about this past season?  Everyone talks about the guy as if he was personally responsible for the Leafs failing, but  guess what?

Tyson Barrie scored at a 50 point pace and had a 53% expected goals rating, and that is including the 23 games he played while Mike Babcock had no idea or interest in how to deploy him.

When Sheldon Keefe took over, Barrie was great.  He was tied for 3rd in points by a defenseman at regular strength from November 21st to the end of the season, while he was the only defenseman on the league’s #2 power-play.

The team consistently did beat their opponent when he was on the ice.  And that includes the Babcock games.  And I think its reasonable to say that Barrie is capable of even better numbers in a season where a) 23 games are not played under a coach who isn’t happy he is on the team, and b) doesn’t play a further 14 games where his team is missing their two best defenseman.

Great numbers under bad circumstances.  Currently in his prime.  Excellent in the playoffs.  Ridiculously better than anyone else in the NHL who usually starts on the third pairing.  Oh, and did I mention that hockey is a game who’s fans and analysts are obsessed with character and dressing room chemistry, and that Tyson Barrie is arguably the most liked and popular player on the team?

Finally, due to the perception that he had a rough year, and the fact that the NHL free-agent landscape has been decimated by Covid, which has led to a flat salary cap and an absurd amount of teams who will be looking to cut costs, that Barrie will likely be available at a more than reasonable price?

To sum up: he’s a great character player, who is statistically excellent, plays the position the team most needs help at and, even in a supposedly bad year, put up extremely good numbers.

Objectively speaking, the Toronto Maple Leafs should make bringing back Tyson Barrie a top priority.