I can't think of more than a handful of games this year when Rants has created his own offense. He has absolutely been a passenger this year, and we know for a fact that he can do better. He will probably figure it out, but you're blind if you can't see that he has been piggybacking off his dominant linemate for points all year. The only player besides MacK who has created offense this year is Landy.
As for Barrie, he is absolutely not a top pair defenseman, because he can't play defense, which is literally right in the name of the position. I think he is wildly overrated, he creates very little offense on his own, and his shot is worthless because it never makes it to the goalie. His point totals look pretty, but don't tell the whole story, and I hope we can move him for a major haul before the rest of the league figures that out, because it would be a colossal mistake to give him the outrageous UFA contract Newport is going to demand. You'd have to be hopelessly naive if you think he can be retained for anything less than 8m, which I think is the low end of what he will be asking.
