Adrian Dater
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – “Psst, I hear it’s done. Done deal.”
I heard that from a couple of pretty plugged-in hockey people Friday night here at Rogers Arena about a Tyson Barrie trade to the Vancouver Canucks. No, they weren’t fellow media people either. So I wrote about what I’d heard earlier tonight, on this site and on the glorious platform that is Twitter.
And guess what? No trade happened. And as I wrote in that earlier story: “I’m not prepared to report that as fact just yet, though. I’ve been down this road too many times, where supposedly “done deals” never happened. So, officially, I’m waiting along with the rest of you at this very moment for the Avalanche to make anything official.”
So what’s going on with Tyson Barrie? If Joe Sakic is to be taken at face value, nothing:
“News to me,” Sakic said, when asked about the rumors. “I don’t know why everybody here’s talkin’. People in Vancouver, the draft is here, (people) seem to be coming up with some stuff. Seems like every morning I wake up and I see that Tyson’s traded, so I don’t know who’s talkin’ to me in the middle of the night. I must be talkin’ in my sleep. Lot of media here, a lot of speculation and a lot of rumors.”
Yeah, lots of rumors, from a lot of other reporters who have been hearing things too:
I can still say this with confidence: at least two people very close to Barrie told me the rumors remain valid, with meat on their bones. The drafting of Bowen Byram at No. 4 means the Avs now have, arguably, nine defensemen who could be on the roster this fall: Byram, Barrie, Girard, Johnson, Cole, Zadorov, Graves, Barberio and Makar. And, maybe Conor Timmins too. That makes 10.
Somebody’s gonna have to go. The Avs still need help up front, specifically that second line. Alex Newhook, a centerman taken at No. 16 Friday night, won’t be ready for a couple years at least probably. He’ll be going to Boston College in the fall and he’s going to need time to develop.
Byram could easily be ready this October to play for the Avs. It would probably be something of a disappointment if he doesn’t.
So, I followed up Sakic’s quips about “Trade? What trade?” and pressed him a bit more about how, if Barrie is to stick around and go into a final year of his contract, making $5..5 million and unrestricted after that, how he’s going to fit all those D-man not only into the roster but into a salary cap.’
Here’s what he said:
“He could (Or he) could not,” said Sakic, when I asked something like “Don’t the numbers suggest Barrie is now expendable, given what just happened? “We have options. I said that at the end of the year.”
As I have said before and say again: I am certainly not rooting for a Tyson Barrie trade. He’s a very good player and even better person. So, if he stays, great! Just was passing on what I was hearing, and apparently others were too.
The names I heard coming back from Vancouver were Jake Virtanen, Chris Tanev and a 2020 first-round pick- or some combination of the three. Adding Tanev would create some of the same blue-line logjam as Barrie sticking around create, so maybe Tanev’s name was – as they say in the biz – a “bad scoop.” Virtanen was taken sixth overall in the draft a few years ago and has been very underwhelming so far in his career. So, not many Avs fans seemed to like the reported rumors.
And, if a deal doesn’t happen, the Avs can forever deny that they ever considered moving him. Doesn’t make it true, but who cares right? It’s just hockey, just a game. We’ll see what Saturday brings from the rumor mill.
Here’s Sakic’s presser after the first round: