Prospect Info: Justin Barron

[boompuffboom]

i really wasnt sure i like him at first, especially due to the fact that Lehk's was one of my fave players, but damn he improved a LOT this season.

Good skates, good release, pgood on the boards. Hes great in the o-zone, good vision and crisp passing. If he can work on his strength and balance vs larger top line forwards, hes gonna be a t4 for sure.

 

[NewDef]

i really wasnt sure i like him at first, especially due to the fact that Lehk's was one of my fave players, but damn he improved a LOT this season.

Good skates, good release, pgood on the boards. Hes great in the o-zone, good vision and crisp passing. If he can work on his strength and balance vs larger top line forwards, hes gonna be a t4 for sure.

Same here. Found him iffy in the NHL in his first few games but what we saw after a good stint in the AHL was oozing skills and talent while getting it all together. Experience and maturity for a def makes a world of difference. Top4 for sure! yay!

 

[MasterD]

Barron's upside is a good #4 and PP2 option

As a "most likely upside", agreed 100%.

But I think in a "right place, right time, right left-d partner" kind of situation, I think he could a #2 or #3 for a few years. Similar to Jeff Petry, actually.

He's a guy we need to be patient with.

 

[Walrus26]

What were those good reasons for not resigning him?
He resigned for 4.5. That was too much for the Habs? That cant be it.
Would have been 2nd best scorer with 21 goals 51 pts.

To quote a board favourite line, "he wasn't part of the new core". I also doubt he scores as much on our lineup as on the Avs.

It's what Bergevin should have done with Gally.

 

[Redux91]

As a "most likely upside", agreed 100%.

But I think in a "right place, right time, right left-d partner" kind of situation, I think he could a #2 or #3 for a few years. Similar to Jeff Petry, actually.

He's a guy we need to be patient with.

Still can't wait to see Guhle and Barron reunited FFS
Want to see the sparks fly

 

[KevSkillz4]

As a "most likely upside", agreed 100%.

But I think in a "right place, right time, right left-d partner" kind of situation, I think he could a #2 or #3 for a few years. Similar to Jeff Petry, actually.

He's a guy we need to be patient with.

And the best part, is that he is less frustrating to watch than Petry, same style but better at passing on PP.

Great progression by him, great acquisition by Hughes and he is going to be a really good defenseman for many years to come with Habs, only 21 years old, I believe in him to become a very important piece on that defensive group.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

I think we can change the prefix to Player Discussion

I wanted to get a sense for people's general feel for Barron. I personally am not very attached to the player. I like his presence in the offensive zone and his ability to walk the blue line, but despite his size I think he will always be a below average defensively player. He's just not very active in the defensive zone, doesn't hit much, doesn't use his stick much, and gets burned outside a fair amount.

However, his stats are surprisingly good, and he looked much better as the year went on. I see him as a potential #4/5, that is overvalued because Savard is our best RHD at the moment. Do others think he has top pairing potential? Or could be a #3 like Petry?

 

[Tyson]

A young, still developing RD that skates well, has good offensive upside. Let's not forget his excellent size. 21 years old I think.

 

[Miller Time]

I think we can change the prefix to Player Discussion

I wanted to get a sense for people's general feel for Barron. I personally am not very attached to the player. I like his presence in the offensive zone and his ability to walk the blue line, but despite his size I think he will always be a below average defensively player. He's just not very active in the defensive zone, doesn't hit much, doesn't use his stick much, and gets burned outside a fair amount.

However, his stats are surprisingly good, and he looked much better as the year went on. I see him as a potential #4/5, that is overvalued because Savard is our best RHD at the moment. Do others think he has top pairing potential? Or could be a #3 like Petry?

Floor = reliable 3-4 multi-tool dman.
Ceiling= top pairing borderline #1D a la cam fowler

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I think he's gonna be great , He is so young and Dmen take more time its interesting to see the polarizing opinions on Barron from different viewpoints though,

He looked good down the stretch in the show , that's pretty impressive for his age , especially his poise on the breakouts,

Less poise in his own end tho , not very active down low, thats what he needs to work on

 

[Archijerej]

Toolsy RD is an asset that needs to be nurtured, because once established they are a sought after commodity. Even if Barron doesn't develop into a core player for us, he may eventually be one of the pieces which allow us to obtain one.

 

[badfish]

I am always surprised at people who put a low ceiling on this player, or even go so far as to say he is trade-bait or will be a cast-away from the team down the line.

When I watch him I see a good sized, right-handed, smooth skating defenseman who plays a decent two-way game, but is prone to occasional brain farts and poor reads. Which is totally expected for a 21 year old defenseman with less than 200 pro games and only 46 NHL games of experience.

One of the reasons I'm optimistic about him is he was 6th in rookie defense ppg (minimum 20 games played) this season. Half of the guys ahead of him were older than him too.

He also played about half of the games and averaged 16 mins a game and was only a -2. The team had a -75 goal differential this season for some context.

I think he's done just fine to date, and I'm really interested to see where he is with another 100 NHL games under his belt.

 

[Adam Michaels]

I am always surprised at people who put a low ceiling on this player, or even go so far as to say he is trade-bait or will be a cast-away from the team down the line.

When I watch him I see a good sized, right-handed, smooth skating defenseman who plays a decent two-way game, but is prone to occasional brain farts and poor reads. Which is totally expected for a 21 year old defenseman with less than 200 pro games and only 46 NHL games of experience.

One of the reasons I'm optimistic about him is he was 6th in rookie defense ppg (minimum 20 games played) this season. Half of the guys ahead of him were older than him too.

He also played about half of the games and averaged 16 mins a game and was only a -2. The team had a -75 goal differential this season for some context.

I think he's done just fine to date, and I'm really interested to see where he is with another 100 NHL games under his belt.

Last year, among U22 D in the entire league, Habs had 3 in the Top-10 in scoring. The only team with multiple players in the Top-10.

Guhle was 7th with 18 pts in 44 GP
Barron was 8th with 15 pts in 39 GP
Arber was 9th with 13 pts in 51 GP

Guhle's & Xhekaj's seasons were cut short due to injury. Barron was in the AHL for a good chunk of the season. Guhle and Barron particularly were on pace to even be Top-5 in scoring among U22 D. They were 7th and 8th, respectively in PPG. Xhekaj was 16th in PPG.

 

[Mudz]

I think we can change the prefix to Player Discussion

I wanted to get a sense for people's general feel for Barron. I personally am not very attached to the player. I like his presence in the offensive zone and his ability to walk the blue line, but despite his size I think he will always be a below average defensively player. He's just not very active in the defensive zone, doesn't hit much, doesn't use his stick much, and gets burned outside a fair amount.

However, his stats are surprisingly good, and he looked much better as the year went on. I see him as a potential #4/5, that is overvalued because Savard is our best RHD at the moment. Do others think he has top pairing potential? Or could be a #3 like Petry?

I see him as top 4 too. His defensive is just not that strong to be a top pairing. He's puck watching too much, he doesn't react well when there's a defensive breakdown and he needs to take away the opponent stick (linked to puck watching)
But I do feel that his offence his underrated. His shots arsenal is really good. At maturity, I could see a pairing with a D like Guhle working really well.

 

[Miller Time]

Last year, among U22 D in the entire league, Habs had 3 in the Top-10 in scoring. The only team with multiple players in the Top-10.

Guhle was 7th with 18 pts in 44 GP
Barron was 8th with 15 pts in 39 GP
Arber was 9th with 13 pts in 51 GP

Guhle's & Xhekaj's seasons were cut short due to injury. Barron was in the AHL for a good chunk of the season. Guhle and Barron particularly were on pace to even be Top-5 in scoring among U22 D. They were 7th and 8th, respectively in PPG. Xhekaj was 16th in PPG.

& These kids put up that production on a team that had Suzuki+ 1/3- 1/2 a season from CC, Dach & Monahan as their only NHL caliber top 6 fwds... and 1/2 season from Matheson as the only legit top-3 dman on the squad.

Future is Bright

 

[Et le But]

I like him, he's not untouchable sure but if anything he's shown more upside so far of any of our NHL ready D (factoring in that Reinbacher, Hutson, and Mailloux are all at least a year away) besides Guhle.

 

[Vachon23]

He will probably need more time then others but he will be solid and we shouldn’t trade expect for something we can’t refuse

 

[CHwest]

I think we can change the prefix to Player Discussion

I wanted to get a sense for people's general feel for Barron. I personally am not very attached to the player. I like his presence in the offensive zone and his ability to walk the blue line, but despite his size I think he will always be a below average defensively player. He's just not very active in the defensive zone, doesn't hit much, doesn't use his stick much, and gets burned outside a fair amount.

However, his stats are surprisingly good, and he looked much better as the year went on. I see him as a potential #4/5, that is overvalued because Savard is our best RHD at the moment. Do others think he has top pairing potential? Or could be a #3 like Petry?

Always amazed when people get critical of a 21 yr old defenseman.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

Always amazed when people get critical of a 21 yr old defenseman.

I get amazed when people take any discussion of a player's future as a personal attack on said player.

I'm asking reasonable questions and I'm hardly being critical, if you have a different projection for him I'm happy to hear it.

 

[CHwest]

I get amazed when people take any discussion of a player's future as a personal attack on said player.

I'm asking reasonable questions and I'm hardly being critical, if you have a different projection for him I'm happy to hear it.

My take is that he is 21 and a defenseman, way to early to start poking holes in his game.

 

[JoelWarlord]

I am always surprised at people who put a low ceiling on this player, or even go so far as to say he is trade-bait or will be a cast-away from the team down the line.

Honestly I think people just forget how young he is because he was in the NHL already last year while Guhle, Xhekaj, Harris only got established this season. That makes it feel like he's been around longer even though he's from the same draft class as Guhle.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

My take is that he is 21 and a defenseman, way to early to start poking holes in his game.

So you don't have a projection for him, you are just upset at other people's projections of him?

I'm just asking where you see him fitting in with the future of this team.

 

[CHwest]

So you don't have a projection for him, you are just upset at other people's projections of him?

I'm just asking where you see him fitting in with the future of this team.

I think it is to early to tell.

 

[Andy]

What impressed me with Barron was how much he developed from the start of the season to the end of the season.

At the end of camp, he looked lost defensively. He was often chasing the wrong player, or not defending anyone at all. He got sent down, worked hard, came back with a much better understanding of the game positionally. He also seemed to adjust to the pace of the nhl game which he struggled with at the beginning of camp.

These development leaps are always a very good indicator. I would say he had the biggest development jump from young players after Dach (who seemed to get better literally every game). That's not to say he was the best rookie or young player. It's simple a statement about how much better his game got at the end of the season compared to beginning of it.

Also, 21 years old is SUPER young for a d-man. Only exceptional D-men find immediate success at such a young age. It takes a few years of seasoning before D-men really find their groove. This is actually fairly common knowledge around the nhl and I'm quite surprised by the impatience shown by some on this board.

Barron has great tools and showed the ability to learn and adjust as he gained experience. If there is one player who should get some rope and patience, it's him.

 

[WeThreeKings]

What impressed me with Barron was how much he developed from the start of the season to the end of the season.

At the end of camp, he looked lost defensively. He was often chasing the wrong player, or not defending anyone at all. He got sent down, worked hard, came back with a much better understanding of the game positionally. He also seemed to adjust to the pace of the nhl game which he struggled with at the beginning of camp.

These development leaps are always a very good indicator. I would say he had the biggest development jump from young players after Dach (who seemed to get better literally every game). That's not to say he was the best rookie or young player. It's simple a statement about how much better his game got at the end of the season compared to beginning of it.

Also, 21 years old is SUPER young for a d-man. Only exceptional D-men find immediate success at such a young age. It takes a few years of seasoning before D-men really find their groove. This is actually fairly common knowledge around the nhl and I'm quite surprised by the impatience shown by some on this board.

Barron has great tools and showed the ability to learn and adjust as he gained experience. If there is one player who should get some rope and patience, it's him.

I'm never surprised by the impatience of this board. The only players I've seen get endless patience are Drouin and Lafreniere