Tyson Barrie has officially accepted a PTO offer from the Calgary Flames and will be at camp trying to earn a roster spot or draw attention from another NHL team. The team officially announced the news just minutes after also announcing they had signed Jared Tinordi to a one-year, two-way deal.
After a long career in the NHL, Barrie is struggling to find work. He has 109 goals and 505 points in 809 career regular season games, along with 21 points (2G, 19A) in 47 playoff games. He has led the league in points for defensemen during the regular season (2020-21) and quarterbacked some of the league’s best power plays. Still, the 33-year-old has been reduced to trying out for a team after a rough two seasons with the Nashville Predators, where he recorded four goals and 27 points in 65 games.
As per Pierre LeBrun, “Tyson Barrie looking for a bounce-back season. The hope here for him is that the PTO turns into more than a league-minimum contract with the Flames.”
Could Barrie Make the Team and Then Be Traded?
One of the things the Flames might be doing with this contract is placing a bet that they can sign a player who will make for a quality trade asset at the NHL Trade Deadline. If Barrie makes the team out of camp, has a good season, and becomes the type of player a club might look at for their power play, the Flames would be buying low and selling relatively high.
Flames GM Craig Conroy has enough cap space to sign Barrie to a one-year contract, give him a shot to put up some numbers, and then dangle him to teams who have injury issues or need more offense later in the year.
The Flames might be betting on a motivated Barrie to bounce back and make himself the kind of player teams take notice of.