Insider Links Tyson Barrie to Surprising Canadian Team


After a series of healthy scratches and an ongoing battle with his GM Barry Trotz over the past couple of months, veteran defenseman Tyson Barrie remains a Nashville Predator as we head down the stretch to the trade deadline on Friday. 

But according to NHL Insider Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, appearing on the Oilers Now podcast, there's an extremely good chance he'll be on the move, and the team he might head to could take us by surprise. 

It's think it's highly likely, I'd say, a 75% chance, if not higher, that they trade Tyson Barrie. And I wouldn't surprised if, after the Calgary Flames execute the Noah Hanifin deal that Tyson Barrie is on his way to Calgary.

It sounds odd, as the Flames continue to divest themselves of all of their top pending unrestricted free agents, that they would then turn around and take on another one. But Seravalli's explanation makes some sense, as Flames GM Craig Conroy has tried to instill some hope in his players that they are not completely giving up on the season, seeing as the team has gone on a tear of late, winning five games in a row, and sit just five points out of a playoff spot.

Adding a puck-moving blueliner like Barrie would help ease the sting of losing Hanifin, though let's not confuse these two players at all, as Hanifin is a top-pairing D, and Barrie hasn't even been able to crack the Predators' top-six on many nights. 

The 32-year-old Barrie hasn't played since February 15, and is currently sitting on a minus-10 rating in 35 games with 12 points. He'd been a regular 40-50-point performer from the blueline for the entirety of his career. In 803 NHL games over 13 seasons, Barrie has compiled 502 points.

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