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Toronto Maple Leafs: 10 Defenseman Not Named Pietrangelo to Pursue

By Stephen Nixon

SUNRISE, FL - DECEMBER 15: Aaron Ekblad #5 of the Florida Panthers and Mitch Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs battle behind the net during second period action at the BB&T Center on December 15, 2018 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
SUNRISE, FL - DECEMBER 15: Aaron Ekblad #5 of the Florida Panthers and Mitch Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs battle behind the net during second period action at the BB&T Center on December 15, 2018 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 08: Tyson Barrie #94 of the Toronto Maple Leafs . (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

#9. Tyson Barrie

“But, Barrie is terrible!” – Leafs Twitter

Every season for as long as I remember, there’s always been a whipping-boy in Toronto. Whether it was Jake Gardiner or Phil Kessel, fans love to hate on players who are actually very good. Tyson Barrie is now that player.

If the Leafs signed him for $5M or more, I’ll jump on the bandwagon and yell about it too, but if they’re able to secure a one-year deal for $4M or less, I’d love to see Barrie back in the line-up. The Victoria, B.C., native is a very good defenseman and although he was pretty awful defensively in a five-game qualifying series, he was awesome once Sheldon Keefe took over.

Back in July, I wrote about Barrie and how underrated he was. As I mentioned in that piece, Barrie averaged 0.68 Points Per Game under Sheldon Keefe, which is actually higher than his career average. How could a player that many thought would sign an 8-year X $8M per season contract have a better year offensively than his career average and fall off the face of the Earth?

As I mentioned before, I thought his defensive game was weak but offensively he’s very gifted and there aren’t many players that can create scoring opportunities like him. If Barrie is smart, he would sign a one-year contract in Toronto to bet on himself and then hopefully sign a huge contract somewhere else afterwards.

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