5 teams in the mix to acquire Tyson Barrie, including the Maple Leafs and Oilers!

Trade chatter cannot be quieten down in Nashville when it comes to Predators defenseman Tyson Barrie. He is currently playing the last year of his current deal and slated to become an unrestricted free agent next July, hence where there is a feeling that Barrie could be moved yet again.

At last year’s trade deadline, Barrie was shipped to the Predators by the Edmonton Oilers, where he had signed as a free agent after playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He ended up in Canada after he was moved by the Colorado Avalanche back in July 2019, and now a third trade could be in the works…

Clay Brewer of Nashville Hockey Now has recently listed the Vancouver Canucks as a potential landing spot for Barrie, especially since the club missed out on re-signing defender Ethan Bear.

Bear, who played for Vancouver last season after he was traded in October 2022 from the Carolina Hurricanes, underwent off-season shoulder surgery and became a free agent in July. However, when he was ready to return to NHL action, he chose to sign a two-year deal with the Washington Capitals.

This explains why the Canucks could go after Barrie.

However, Brewer also believes the Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders could show interest in Barrie, especially as we get closer to the trade deadline.

Earlier this season, Barrie was made a healthy scratch and it was reported that he was given permission to talk to other teams about a potential trade. Brewer explains how Barrie could make a return to either the Oilers or the Maple Leafs.

When it comes to Edmonton, he says: “Goaltending has been the Oilers’ Achilles heel this season, but they could make life a little easier on Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard by reacquiring Barrie and bolstering quality of players in front of them.”

As for the Maple Leafs, it is no secret Toronto has struggled for many seasons on the back end, as the blue liner could have logged heavy minutes. Brewer also thinks the money available by John Klingberg’s LTIR status could get the Maple Leafs enough space for Barrie’s $4.5 million salary.

If you're thinking the Predators could retain some of his cap in a transaction, here is how Brewer explains it:

“First, Nashville can only retain a maximum of 50% of Barrie’s salary (a little north of $1.3 M). Second, Barrie would be Nashville’s third salary retention (Ryan Johansen $4M, Mattias Ekholm at $250K — both carried through the 2024-25 season), meaning the Predators could not retain any salary in any future trades until the end of the year (Barrie will be a UFA this summer).

“For example, if the Predators were to retain 50% of Barrie’s salary, a team using LTIR would have to have enough cap space following the transaction to absorb $2.25M (half of his $4.5M cap hit), whereas a team not using LTIR would only absorb a little over $1.3M.”

The Devils and Islanders are also mentioned as possible spots since the former are without veteran blue liner Dougie Hamilton and the latter could use more production coming from the back end since only Noah Dobson seems able to find the back of the net from the blue line.

This will get more and more interesting as we get close to the trade deadline, which is almost nine weeks away.

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