Tyson Barry remains a luxury the Edmonton Oilers cannot afford.
After Duncan Keith retired on Friday, rumors began to swirl that the Oilers would try to keep Barry at the tailback position.
What would that look like? Well, Barry will most likely remain on the Oilers’ third pairing and best power forward. His value comes in his ability to move the puck at 5×5 and quarterback on the power play.
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There’s no denying the offense he brings to the table, but his defensive game is non-existent on his best days. No knock against him, it just is and it’s an area he’s always struggled with.
So if the Oilers bring him back, as well as Brett Kulak, the depth chart looks like this:
Nurse – Ceci
Kulak – Bouchard
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Broberg – Barry
The first two pairs seem very strong, but the third pair is what worries me. The Oilers would love for Broberg, who will play his first serious NHL minutes next year, to be paired with a backcourt that struggles defensively. To me, this is a situation where both players are set up to fail.
Barry has two years left on his deal, paying him an AAV of $4.5M — not a terrible contract by any means, but it’s a lot of money for a one-dimensional 5×5 player who blocks Bouchard from meaningful PP1 minutes.
That’s why I think the team should still look to move Barry.
Instead, the Oilers could choose the free agent route to find Barry’s replacement. Names like Jan Ruta, Ilya Lyubushkin, Matt Benning or Nikita Zadorov make sense.
Here are their most likely contract projections, c/o Evolving Hockey:
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- Rutta – three years, reached a capital of $2.412 million.
- Lyubushkin – one year, $836,700
- Benning – one year. $792,000.
- Zadorov – five years, $4.255 million.
Just outside of projections, I’d target any of the top three while avoiding Zadorov at all costs based on that price alone.
Edmonton could use that added cap hit to put together a serious offer for someone like Claude Giroux, who has a three-year, $6.466 million cap hit. All along, Edmonton could add a solid defenseman on the cheap to pair with Broberg.
Zach Laing is News Director and Senior Columnist for the Nation Network. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaingor reached by email at [email protected]
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