Player Discussion Tyson Barrie

[CupofOil]

He's been fine but he's exactly the type of player that gets eaten alive come playoff time.

This just isn't true. Barrie was one of the better Oilers Dmen against Winnipeg and he had some really good playoffs with Colorado.
I'm a lot more concerned with Bouchard than Barrie, in a playoff series.

With that said, they might be forced to move Barrie this offseason to free up money and get a different type of Dman for the right side. His contract is easily moveable as opposed to Kassian, for instance.

 

[joestevens29]

If the young cost-controlled RHD can get you or be part of a package to solve goaltending once and for all, then I would move him. If he was trending to be a solid top pair RHD, then I would reconsider. However, he is now 4 years post draft and he still has the same concerns in his game that he had back then. I would consider moving him while his value is still high. Depends on the return (it always depends on the return).

Him sitting on the taxi squad all last year seems to have hurt as well. The kid could've been at least playing and learning actual in game lessons down in the AHL with Woody and Manson. Instead they kept him up to gain "the NHL experience" of watching/practicing with NHLers.

All things considered though the guy is in top 25 for d-men scoring. Tied for 13 in ES points by d-man and is still a plus player. Sure he has his warts, but this really is his rookie season in the NHL.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

A game like last night is why I'm deeply concerned for Barrie. The Kings took full advantage of his defensive "prowess".

 

[gordonhught]

Him sitting on the taxi squad all last year seems to have hurt as well. The kid could've been at least playing and learning actual in game lessons down in the AHL with Woody and Manson. Instead they kept him up to gain "the NHL experience" of watching/practicing with NHLers.

All things considered though the guy is in top 25 for d-men scoring. Tied for 13 in ES points by d-man and is still a plus player. Sure he has his warts, but this really is his rookie season in the NHL.

Don't get me wrong, my first choice is that Bouchard would be a solid top 4 RHD with the Oilers. However, I am starting to have my doubts.

All these young players trend in certain directions and you can get a sense of how they may turn out a few years down the road.

Drai - had glimpses in his rookie season, but was overmatched. He demonstrated ability to make plays. He just needed another year of junior to sort things out.

JP - since the draft has had issues, hockey sense is questionable, has somewhat bad hands not sure he brings a lot more than Foegele does offensively given his opportunities.

Yamo - praised for his high hockey IQ and skill level prior to the draft. He has consistently demonstrated abilty to think and play the game at a high level.

Bouchard - since the draft has had great offensive performance, but his defensive play is lacklustre and is not really getting all that better

Broberg - too soon

I guess my point is that I kind of see Bouchard like JP. I am not sure Bouchard ever gets to his consensus pre-draft potential. Same for JP.

 

[joestevens29]

Don't get me wrong, my first choice is that Bouchard would be a solid top 4 RHD with the Oilers. However, I am starting to have my doubts.

All these young players trend in certain directions and you can get a sense of how they may turn out a few years down the road.

Drai - had glimpses in his rookie season, but was overmatched. He demonstrated ability to make plays. He just needed another year of junior to sort things out.

JP - since the draft has had issues, hockey sense is questionable, has somewhat bad hands not sure he brings a lot more than Foegele does offensively given his opportunities.

Yamo - praised for his high hockey IQ and skill level prior to the draft. He has consistently demonstrated abilty to think and play the game at a high level.

Bouchard - since the draft has had great offensive performance, but his defensive play is lacklustre and is not really getting all that better

Broberg - too soon

I guess my point is that I kind of see Bouchard like JP. I am not sure Bouchard ever gets to his consensus pre-draft potential. Same for JP.

Personally I don't know that Bouchard is that far off from his pre-draft potential. I just think there has been this hope that he is going to round into a good defensive d-man as well. Not sure if that's going to be the case though.

 

[Little Fury]

If the young cost-controlled RHD can get you or be part of a package to solve goaltending once and for all, then I would move him. If he was trending to be a solid top pair RHD, then I would reconsider. However, he is now 4 years post draft and he still has the same concerns in his game that he had back then. I would consider moving him while his value is still high. Depends on the return (it always depends on the return).

This is one of those times where "thank god you're not the GM" is the only appropriate response.

 

[gordonhught]

This is one of those times where "thank god you're not the GM" is the only appropriate response.

Thanks Furry. Thank goodness you are only a poster on a message board and not anyone of great significance.

 

[Connor McConnor]

Don't get me wrong, my first choice is that Bouchard would be a solid top 4 RHD with the Oilers. However, I am starting to have my doubts.

All these young players trend in certain directions and you can get a sense of how they may turn out a few years down the road.

Drai - had glimpses in his rookie season, but was overmatched. He demonstrated ability to make plays. He just needed another year of junior to sort things out.

JP - since the draft has had issues, hockey sense is questionable, has somewhat bad hands not sure he brings a lot more than Foegele does offensively given his opportunities.

Yamo - praised for his high hockey IQ and skill level prior to the draft. He has consistently demonstrated abilty to think and play the game at a high level.

Bouchard - since the draft has had great offensive performance, but his defensive play is lacklustre and is not really getting all that better

Broberg - too soon

I guess my point is that I kind of see Bouchard like JP. I am not sure Bouchard ever gets to his consensus pre-draft potential. Same for JP.

Not sure I agree with those evaluations as I see it closer to:

1) JP is much much better than Foegele and has actually progressed very nicely ever since he came back and joined the team last year. He looks to be a bonafide top 6 winger which is just fine for where he was drafted. Not all top 6 guys have to be 30/30 guys, he looks to be a solid 20-25+ goal scorer who provides elite 2-way game and can create chances for our 2 stud Centres.

2) Yamo has good hockey IQ, sure, but he is a liability in his own end and often seems like he can't keep up with the skill level of our other top 6 guys as he regularly misses so many chances. He's a middle 6 player at best and if we can't get him on a very team friendly deal, is someone I wouldn't miss too much.

3) Bouchard was never going to be a top pairing guy from my evaluation but he still holds significant value as a #3 offensive guy if paired with the right partner. Blame that one on our GM for drafting him over Dobson who I wanted from the start. Imagine where we'd look right now with that stud as our #1D of the future.

I think Bouch has gotten into his own head a bit along with the coaching staff relying on a small sample size and then putting too much on him. I think he still rounds into that top 4D guy who can QB a PP and provide solid transition passes but he needs a solid D pairing guy around him who can skate.

 

[Louis Cypher]

He's a one-dimensional player. You can't really play him in a top-four role because he needs to be sheltered defensively.

The Oilers will probably want to carve out cap space to re-sign guys like Puljujarvi, and Barrie is a logical trade candidate. Bouchard and Ceci are the pieces on the right-side.

Who is the third RD? Broberg plays Right side but shoots left.

 

[bossram]

Who is the third RD? Broberg plays Right side but shoots left.

You can find a 3rd-pair calibre player pretty much anytime.

And I'd imagine that ideally, the Oilers would like an RD upgrade to bump Ceci down to the 3rd pair anyway. Reallocating Barrie into a similarly priced two-way RD would still be an improvement.

If Broberg can play RD, they could run with that too. Barrie is just a redundant piece.

 

[Louis Cypher]

You can find a 3rd-pair calibre player pretty much anytime.

And I'd imagine that ideally, the Oilers would like an RD upgrade to bump Ceci down to the 3rd pair anyway. Reallocating Barrie into a similarly priced two-way RD would still be an improvement.

If Broberg can play RD, they could run with that too. Barrie is just a redundant piece.

V. Desharnais shoots right. I haven't watched him at all so can't comment but his +/- looks great.

 

[fuswald]

Barrie has been very good lately. Well worth the cap hit.
Seems he just needs a decent (or certain type?) of linemate.

 

[The Nuge]

Barrie has been very good lately. Well worth the cap hit.

He’s one of the most underrated players in the league. He’s scored at a 58 point pace for us since coming here. That’s something we haven’t had a single dman do since Coffey left in 87 (we also didn’t have a dman lead the league in D scoring between Coffey and Barrie iirc). He’s worth every penny of that contract and then some

 

[K1984]

This just isn't true. Barrie was one of the better Oilers Dmen against Winnipeg and he had some really good playoffs with Colorado.
I'm a lot more concerned with Bouchard than Barrie, in a playoff series.

With that said, they might be forced to move Barrie this offseason to free up money and get a different type of Dman for the right side. His contract is easily moveable as opposed to Kassian, for instance.

Bouchard scares me much more than Barrie in the playoffs.

I'm not sure I would dress Bouchard at all in the playoffs if I'm being honest.

 

[VainGretzky]

we need to move Barrie and Kassian out in the hopes we can re-sign Kane and Puljujarvi

 

[Chet Manley]

He needs to be better than Bouchard in all areas until the kid is ready for the responsibility. Bouchard will get exposed in a 7 game series if he's asked to play an important role just like Bear before him. I believe Barrie has the ability to do that and has been trending up after a shacky few months.

 

[Oilhawks]

Bouchard not looking ready might lead to Barrie sticking around, especially with him being better than the start of the season.

 

[Mr Positive]

Bouchard not looking ready might lead to Barrie sticking around, especially with him being better than the start of the season.

In a cap world sometimes you make gambles though. It's not that much of a stretch to have faith in a talent like Bouchard, and his ability to improve over time. Of course keeping Barrie is the ideal by a roster standpoint, but perhaps in a cap sense, trading him off makes some sense.

It's also one of those things where if we want to trade Barrie later, it's likely because he starts slumping. But, of course then no one will take him except with some huge sweetner. So if there is a time to trade him, it will be when a lot of the fans second guess it because Barrie is playing okay.

If Barrie is traded for cap reasons, I hope it is meaningful. It could mean adding Kuemper, or maybe keeping Puljujarvi. We won't really know what players are at stake until the summer.

 

[North]

Him sitting on the taxi squad all last year seems to have hurt as well. The kid could've been at least playing and learning actual in game lessons down in the AHL with Woody and Manson. Instead they kept him up to gain "the NHL experience" of watching/practicing with NHLers.

All things considered though the guy is in top 25 for d-men scoring. Tied for 13 in ES points by d-man and is still a plus player. Sure he has his warts, but this really is his rookie season in the NHL.

They gave Bouchard the option of staying up or going to the minors and playing last season.

He said he felt he’d learn more by staying up.

Problem was Tippett was the coach then so what was he learning?

 

[Oilhawks]

They gave Bouchard the option of staying up or going to the minors and playing last season.

He said he felt he’d learn more by staying up.

Problem was Tippett was the coach then so what was he learning?

*grumble grumble* “chasing the game…gotta get Schmiddy going…” *grumble*

 

[joestevens29]

They gave Bouchard the option of staying up or going to the minors and playing last season.

He said he felt he’d learn more by staying up.

Problem was Tippett was the coach then so what was he learning?

Shouldn't have been the players option in the first place.

It's not like he was a well rounded prospect just waiting to play as there were too many solid vets in front of him. He was a 21 year old that clearly needed work.

Sure give him his cup of tea on the roster and taxi squad if you want, but he should've been playing games in the AHL last year. Could've been running the PP, playing PK and learning how to play defense. If he looked to dominate in the AHL then call him up and leave him up, but for him to be wasted the way he was last year is just a shame

 

[5 14 6 1]

Barrie is a totally different player since Woodcroft came in. I was very down on him but he has been a very strong player the past 20 or so games

 

[joestevens29]

Barrie is a totally different player since Woodcroft came in. I was very down on him but he has been a very strong player the past 20 or so games

I'm not 100% sure as I like to have some pops at the game, but wasn't Barrie out defending the lead Woodcroft's first game as head coach? If it wasn't that game it was another.

And while it's not a ton Barrie is also see PK time under Woodcroft.

Getting those extra assignments that you aren't use to gives a guy a bit more fire.

Guy also went from .48ppg to .75ppg. -9 to +12 as well

 

[EnufAlready]

Its Nurse and Ceci who have tanked under Woody. Seemingly starting to figure it out but honestly Nurse has looked so bad under Woody

 

[K1984]

Its Nurse and Ceci who have tanked under Woody. Seemingly starting to figure it out but honestly Nurse has looked so bad under Woody

That pair doesn't work. Definitely not all the reason Nurse looks like a raw rookie again (insanely he's making a lot of the same ridiculous mistakes Bouchard is), but the drop in his play timed exactly with that pair being created.