NHL Rumors: Edmonton Oilers Tyson Barrie Prime Trade Candidate

The Edmonton Oilers will be going all-in this season and are looking to make some tweaks to their roster before the March 21 trade deadline. While their team is full of players with no-trade protection, one defenseman who holds some legitimate trade value is offensive defenseman Tyson Barrie.

Barrie was recently mentioned by Allan Mitchell of The Athletic who cited his reasonable cap hit as one of the reasons he could be moved:

The possible issues for him as an Oilers player are twofold: A less expensive player (Evan Bouchard) duplicates his skill set and Barrie’s cap hit ($4.5 million) may be needed elsewhere on the roster beginning next year.

A third factor, and a key one, is that Barrie is one of the very few roster players in Edmonton who has trade value, in part because he can be replaced internally and doesn’t own a no-trade or no-movement clause in his contract.

Barrie turned a prove it contract into a three-year deal worth $13.5 million in Edmonton and is off to another fine season. After 48 points in 56 games last season, the mobile defenseman has tallied 13 points in 24 games.

There's been talks all season that the Oilers would love to get their hands on a legitimate number one goaltender who is in his prime to be the goalie for at least the next three seasons. If that's the case, Barrie, a first-round pick and potentially Stuart Skinner could be involved here as the Oilers appear to be headed down the path of big-game hunting.