With the Ryan O’Reilly contract saga over, Colorado will now turn its attention to another key unsigned RFA -- Tyson Barrie.
Though to hear executive VP of hockey ops Joe Sakic explain it, Barrie’s negotiations should be smoother than O’Reilly’s.
“I’m very confident we’ll get something done with Tyson,” Sakic said on Wednesday, per the Denver Post. Barrie, who turns 23 in two days, just wrapped the last of his three-year, $2.7 million entry-level deal (with a $900,000 annual cap hit) and should garner a decent raise with his new contract.
Colorado’s third-round pick (64th overall) at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Barrie had a quality campaign last year by scoring 38 points in 64 games. He did that despite spending chunks of October and November with AHL Lake Erie; extrapolated out over an 82-game regular season, Barrie -- who scored at a 0.59 points-per-game clip -- was on pace for a 48-point year.
Diminutive in stature but a gifted puck-mover, Barrie led all Avs d-men in goals last year, with 13, a number tied him for ninth among NHL blueliners (with Victor Hedman and Roman Josi.) He was knocked out of the playoffs by a Matt Cooke knee in the opening round, but recently revealed he’s fully recovered.
