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.