It doesn’t make sense for the oilers to re-sign barrie even if he was willing to take another 1 year deal at 3 mill.

I agree but Oilers management may not. He's leading the league in D men points this year and Oil have been looking for a player like that for many years now. It's hard to walk away from.

Well yeah that’s possible - oilers fans better hope another GM is dumb enough to give barrie term. He’s been carried by Mcdavid and draisaitl and he has a ton of secondary assists. I’d bet Bouchard is already better than barrie right now

Keeping Tyson Barrie and giving up Ethan Bear as a sweetener to take a bad contract is certainly A Choice

Yes I think Bouchard is very good already but it's not between Bouchard and Barrie Oil can have both. It's between Bear and Barrie, Bear's advanced stats are better but Barrie is putting up more points. There may also be things not captured by advanced stats the team likes.

Again I wouldn't go this route but if the team does, I think it can still work out with the plan above. But Oil can not afford Barrie at market rates for sure.

It should actually be between larsson and barrie - the oilers shouldn’t be signing two late 20s D to long term deals. Larsson is a lot better than barrie so he’s the one who should stay - bear and Bouchard are cost controlled and both shouldn’t be traded.

I know Holland probably doesn’t think like that but he is going to screw the oilers if barrie is willing to sign.

By the wording of the NHL's rules in regards to expansion, Klefbom may not be eligible to not have to be protected. The official ruling is:

"Players with potential career-ending injuries who have missed more than the previous 60 consecutive games (or who otherwise have been confirmed to have a career-threatening injury) may not be used to satisfy a team's player exposure requirements unless approval is received from the NHL. Such players also may be deemed exempt from selection."

The key wording there is the potential career-ending part. Right now Klefbom is scheduled to be returning to the Oiler's lineup by either opening night next season (hopeful thinking but he said in an interview that he hopes to be ready by then), or likely sometime in January. With that update, it sounds like he doesn't meet that expansion draft exemption and therefore will require to be protected or Edmonton risks losing him to Seattle.

So if Holland is confident that he'll return, he'd be best to protect him. But if he thinks it will be awhile before he returns then maybe he's left exposed and taken by Seattle. Either way it doesn't seem like he'll be exempt from protection.

Seattle doesn’t take Kassian without sweetener. Archibald isn’t protected so they would just go for him.

They might but Kassian is the better player. He's big, fast, physical, he can score and had good 5v5 numbers last year. Some inconsistency, but that's what you get with unprotected players. Kassian can run with McDavid. Archibald has a lot of drive and is a coaches favorite but Everytime they put him in the top 6 they got nothing. There are plenty of Archie players available for free as UFAs, probably not many Kassians. Seattle needs legit roster players and Kassian would be one. His contract is high for what he did this year but it's nothing huge and three years is good term. Not sure what Seattle's options will be maybe they are set with UFAs but if not Kassian sounds to me exactly like the bet an expansion team should be taking.

Yes, good call, it's a grey area. I think you're right, he probably returns. I'm planning to do a similar team with Klef returning too see how that looks. Klefbom expressed optimism in his availability but I believe recovery from surgery is still early. He may yet have a long road to recovery or even retire. Holland said he would check in with Klef a month or so before the expansion draft and we probably find out more then.

Why? Explain your take.



Carried by McDavid and Draisaitl? He's averaged huge numbers over his entire career. Look up his career stats. If McD and Drai carried him why didn't every defenseman who has played with them over the past 5 years posted the same numbers? The facts disprove your argument. The secondary assists argument is laughable. He's a defenseman... most defensemen have a high percentage of secondary assists. Points all count the same.



Respect your opinion that it should be between Larsson and Barrie (though I disagree), but disagree that Larsson is a lot better than Barrie. Hard to compare them as Larsson is a defensive D with very little offense and Barrie is offensive, and not great defensively. Larsson has been very good this season, but his previous 2 years were inconsistent. I would also note that Larsson has had his best season when he played 2nd pairing minutes rather than top pairing as he did the previous 2 years. Barrie has been consistently in the top D scorers in the league except for one below average year in Toronto. I think most would agree Barrie has been more consistent at what he's best at.

83% of his points have involved one of Mcdavid/draisaitl. And as you can see by his “EV offense” he does not drive play offensively , he just puts up a lot points because he plays with superstars. Points are not a good way to evaluate defenseman.

For example, Devon toews played for the isles last season. He was driving play offensively at an elite level but the isles don’t have a lot of players that are good finishers. He didn’t really put up many points but now this season he’s on the avs and plays with much better forwards. He’s the same offensive player he was last season, his teammates are just better this year.

Tip: if you're ever being chased by an Oilers fan, simply throw this at them and make your escape pic.twitter.com/qyNFJd6B44

— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) May 9, 2021

Here's my team with Klefbom protected
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2394073

Great. You found one player in the NHL that backs up your point. You didn't address my point that Barrie has been an elite-level scoring defenseman consistently over his career, albeit with other good players. You also didn't answer my question about why the other defensemen who have played with McD and Drai over the past 5 years haven't put up the same points as Barrie this year.

Barrie used to drive play offensively - his play driving has fallen off a cliff over the last 3 seasons, which Is one of the reasons why Joe sakic moved him. Just because he puts up points does not mean he is great offensively.

Barrie is the only oilers defenseman over the last 3 seasons to QB PP1 and spend over 50% of his ice time at even strength with Mcdavid. Klefbom is the closest thing the oilers have had to a top pairing D over the last 3 years and he didn't spend much time with Mcdavid at even strength. Barrie is good on the PP, his impact at even strength is the issue. Mcdavid was a lot better when he wasn't with Barrie, which is another sign that they should move on from him

Mcdavid with Barrie: 52.99 % shot share, 55% goals for percentage, 51% expected goals percentage

Mcdavid without Barrie: 58% shot share, 60% goals for percentage, 65% expected goals percentage

Barrie without Mcdavid : 45% shot share, 47% goals for percentage, 44% expected goals percentage

wow, it's almost as if Barrie is a liability at even strength and is carried by the best player in the world.

Tunnel-vision sir. I like analytics guys who are able to discuss all sides of the data, not just the numbers that support their argument. Do you think the numbers suggest another defenseman should play with McDavid? If so, who? Is Tippet a bad coach because he continues to play Barrie with McDavid?

You can't rely only on analytics to make decisions on players. It's part of the equation, not the whole thing. How do your analytics explain why no other defensemen who have played with McDavid have been able to post numbers even close to Barrie? If you can't answer that question, the conversation is over.