In many situations like this one, the right call would be to trade the player and give up on a move that made sense on paper but didn’t function in practice. The tough part with that is his poor play and his tiny salary ($2.75 million) will make it exceptionally hard to get much in return that makes sense for Toronto.
Maybe they can deal for a defenceman like Colin Miller, who seems to have fallen out of favour in Buffalo? Maybe there’s a move where the other team retains salary, in order to get the contracts to match? The Leafs did show interest in T.J. Brodie in the offseason, and the Flames are off to a similarly poor start.
It’s a tough situation, though, given how hard right defencemen are to come by in the best of circumstances. That top-four void the Leafs have had for years is one GM Kyle Dubas has tried to address with a home-run deal going back to when he first was promoted to the top hockey operations job. That the solution ultimately ended up being Barrie and Cody Ceci was a reflection of how difficult getting the right pieces can be when they’re so scarce.
If the Leafs can’t find a deal in the coming months, they might be stuck waiting for Barrie to turn things around, even as they continue to slide in the standings.