This off-season, Tyson Barrie announced his retirement from the NHL. The BC-born defenceman played 822 games during his career, scoring 110 goals and recording 508 points. Barrie was also a star in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets, winning Defenceman of the Year in 2010 and guiding the Rockets to the Memorial Cup tournament in 2009.
Now that Barrie is retired, he is appearing on podcasts and radio stations to discuss his NHL career. This includes Sportsnet 650, where the 34-year-old spoke about almost being traded to the Canucks. According to Barrie, trade negotiations between Vancouver and the Colorado Avalanche got to the point where his agent called him ahead of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.
“I was actually in New York City at a bachelor party that I’d planned, and we were at a Yankees game, and my phone rang, said Barrie. “It was my agent. He goes, Hey, Tyson, oh, you’re in New York. I don’t usually bother you with this stuff, but there’s a chance you’re gonna go to the Canucks here at the draft. He’s, like, it sounds like it’s close, and we won’t know until they announced the pick. But stay tuned. So I was just watching the Yankees game, thinking I was getting traded to the Canucks, which I was like, you know, obviously I love Colorado, but I kind of knew I was going to get traded. So to be able to go home to Vancouver, in a way, would have been really cool, but obviously didn’t materialize. So I talked to Sakic after, and he said it wasn’t actually that close, so it kind of shows you the business you’re in a little bit.”
According to reports, Barrie would be headed to the Canucks in exchange for Jake Virtanen and a first-round pick. In the end, the trade never happened, and instead, Barrie was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs along with Alexander Kerfoot and a 2020 sixth-round draft pick from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for centre Nazem Kadri, defenceman Calle Rosen and Toronto’s 2020 third-round pick. Barrie would play one year in Toronto before signing as a free agent with the Edmonton Oilers in 2020.
“I think, you know, had I ended up in Vancouver, I probably would have been able to step into a bit of an extension and, you know, find a home. But instead, I went to the Maple Leafs on a kind of a one-year, almost tryout, and that didn’t go super great. So it just goes to show you, you know where you land and you know who’s trading for. You just can kind of alter the trajectory of your career and obviously your life.”
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Looking back, it is intriguing to think what Vancouver’s team would have looked like had Barrie been traded to the Canucks. While Vancouver had a strong blue line that featured Quinn Hughes, Alex Edler, Chris Tanev, and Tyler Myers, having a defenceman who could put up close to 40 points a year would have been beneficial, especially in the playoffs. Unfortunately, as Barrie pointed out, the deal never happened, meaning he never got the opportunity to play for Vancouver during his NHL career.
In the end, Barrie had a very underrated NHL career. His 508 points rank 10th among defenders since his debut during the 2011-12 season, while he ranks tied for 17th among defencemen in game-winning goals with 21. Barrie also competed for Canada multiple times during his career, which included winning a Gold medal at the 2015 World Championship.
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