Hours after the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Steven Lorentz to a professional tryout, one of their former players signed the same type of contract with the Calgary Flames.
Tyson Barrie, who the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired in the summer of 2019 from the Colorado Avalanche has bounced to a couple of teams since departing that next summer and is hoping to extend his career by getting a shot in Alberta.
Unfortunately for Barrie, he will always be attached to the most unpopular trade in the Kyle Dubas era when he was acquired along with Alex Kerfoot in exchange for former first round pick Nazem Kadri.
Barrie was not popular in Toronto, but he put up decent numbers in his one year with the organization. 53% puck-possession while posting an Expected Goals rating above 50% while scoring at a 5v5 rate not dissimilar to the rest of his career. (Naturalstattrick.com).
Former Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman gets PTO in Western Canada
After leaving Toronto, Barrie would sign a one-year deal with the Edmonton Oilers where the only reael difference in his play was that he wasn't traded for one of their most popular players.
Barrie scored 48-points in the 56 game shortened COVID season, padding his stats on the power-play with Connor Mcdavid, that led to him signing a three-year extension worth $13.5 Million. The Victoria, British Columbian native would continue to progress offensively collecting consecutive 40-points seasons in Edmonton, however, halfway through year two of his three year deal general manager Ken Holland made arguably his best deal when he acquired Mattias Ekholm for a bunch of futures, and had to include Barrie as the cap dump to fit in Ekholm.
Barrie spent the remaining time of his contract in Nashville and was often a healthy scratch this past season. Predators management even gave Barrie's camp permission to seek a trade, but nothing translated. After the Christmas break he played in just 11 regular season games and then just one of Nasville's six playoff games in their first round defeat to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Calgary Flames are in a transition period and with the recent departure of Noah Hanifin there could be a bit of powerplay time available to slot into the lineup. Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar are the main two options, but Barrie could push himself into that role if he can crack the line-up.
The other former Maple Leafs big name still without a contract for the upcoming season is James van Riemsdyk who played last year with the Boston Bruins and recorded 11 goals while playing 13:30 a night. With rumours circulating the Toronto Maple Leafs that they are looking for a top nine left winger it's worth pointing out that JVR is now exclusively a fourth line player.