Tyson Barrie
For one of the best offensive defenseman in the league back in his prime, many will remember the supposedly underwhelming performance that he had in a Leafs uniform back during the 2019-20 NHL season (even if the stats don't match the narrative).
After producing back-to-back 14-goal, 50+-point seasons with the Colorado Avalanche prior to joining Toronto, Barrie managed to only put up 5 goals and 34 assists over 70 games in the blue and white.
Barrie has since played for the Edmonton Oilers, where he posted three consecutive 40-point seasons quarterbacking one of the league’s top offensive team. However, in his more recent tenure with the Nashville Predators, his game has severely fallen off a cliff and was healthy-scratched on multiple occasions as a result.
At just 32 years old, it doesn’t appear that Barrie is done just yet, but with his stats eerie similar to that of P.K. Subban when he ultimately faded from the league, anything may still be possible.
Travis Dermott
As one of the mainstays of the Toronto Maple Leafs blueline over parts of five seasons between 2017-22, Travis Dermott never ended up living up to his potential in being a second-round pick back in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
Despite playing some solid defense at times, Dermott managed only 12 goals and 52 points over 251 career games from an offensive standpoint with Toronto. As a result, he eventually fell backwards in the organization’s depth chart and was ultimately traded to the Vancouver Canucks at the 2022 trade deadline.
Unfortunately for Dermott, the change in scenery did not help his cause as he has struggled to stay in the regular NHL lineup in recent years. But at just the young age of 27, he still has plenty of time to prove that he belongs in the NHL and potentially still be a solid contributor down the road. For the time being though, he will need to find a team that will give him that exact opportunity to do so.