Justin Barron, Avs not worried about blood clots

It’s an unfortunate part of the game. Injuries or other maladies often come with the territory of playing a sport. What’s worse is when something like that happens to a young prospect in his draft year. It can be catastrophic. It can cause a prospective top-15 pick in the draft to slide further down the board than they probably deserve. This was the case for Halifax Mooseheads captain Justin Barron.

While he and his Mooseheads were taking on the Charlottetown Islanders back in December, Barron felt some numbness in his arm during the second period. That numbness slowly turned into discoloration and swelling. Soon after, he was diagnosed with a blood clot, which caused him to miss the last several months of the season.

Given an ‘A’ grade by NHL Central Scouting, Barron was ranked the No. 16 skater in North America and was projected as high as a top-15 selection in this year’s draft.

As expected, the injury and missed time caused Barron to slide down the draft board, as team after team passed on the defenseman due to hesitations about his health. He slid all the way to the Avalanche at No. 25. As a result, Joe Sakic and the Avs may have gotten one of the steals of the draft.

“I think leading up to the draft and in all the interviews leading up to the spring and summer, this week it was some nerves but a lot of excitement too. I think at this point I think I did everything I could’ve done to put myself in a good position for the draft,” Barron said. “I figured whoever wanted me would be the team to pick me.”

The Colorado GM has shown he’s not afraid to take risks on draft picks that have had an injured past. Most recently, he and the Avs took Martin Kaut 16th overall in 2018 after the Czech winger required surgery after being diagnosed with a congenital heart condition while at the NHL Combine. Kaut, now healthy as ever, is a short time away from cracking the Avs’ full-time roster. Like Kaut, Sakic isn’t concerned with taking a chance on Barron either.

“He had a procedure and has a clean bill of health from the doctors and there’s no issue there,” Sakic said. “It’s the same sort of stuff that a couple of other players in the National Hockey League have had and have had no problem after the procedure. So we’re very confident in that.”

Just a couple of weeks before the draft, Barron underwent a procedure to remove the clot, which is expected to sideline the Mooseheads captain another “two to three weeks.” 

“I think getting the procedure done to fix the blood clot was the right decision for me in my career,” Barron said. “We informed all the teams of that and sent them all my medical records. At that point, it’s really up to them. 

“Obviously Colorado kind of saw that the procedure was done well and it was a good decision and they could look past that and look at the bright spots in my game. I couldn’t be happier to be a part of the Colorado Avalanche.”

Barron now joins a strong core of young defensemen in the Avs system. From Cale Makar, Ryan Graves and Sam Girard, who have already made an impact on the Avalanche blueline, to Bowen Byram, Conor Timmins and now Justin Barron, who are all just a short time away from further bolstering Colorado’s D-core, the Avalanche are set on the backend for years to come.

Given the wealth of depth the Avalanche have on the blueline, Justin Barron can take his time recovering and developing until he’s ready to make the jump to the NHL. The blood clot was a bump in the road, but the pavement looks much smoother for Barron from here on out. 

“I think it’s important to see the brighter side of it,” Barron added. “This was definitely the first big injury that gave me some adversity in my hockey career so far. I think it’s important to keep working and to know you’re going to recover and there’s brighter days ahead. Being here in Halifax, and with the Mooseheads and having my family and having such good people around me that made it even easier for me. I’m really thankful for them.

“I just try to stay positive…Colorado picked me and I couldn’t be happier.”