Veteran NHL defenceman Tyson Barrie says he gets to “keep the dream alive” now that he’s under contract to the Calgary Flames.
Barrie, a player with over 800 games of experience in the league, was passed over in summer’s free agency. He was invited to Flames training camp on a professional tryout contract.
The 33-year-old from Victoria signed a one-year, US$1.25 million with Calgary on Thursday, meaning he will play in a 14th NHL season.
“It’s a league I played a long time and played some good hockey, and so I knew if I was in good shape and came in and played well, I’d probably have a good shot at it, but it definitely it is a little different,” Barrie said Friday.
“My son starts preschool on Monday, and he’s pretty stoked, so it would have been disappointing to tell him he wasn’t going, so I’m glad it worked out.”
His 505 career points — 109 goals and 396 assists — in 809 games rank 11th among active NHL defencemen heading into the 2024-25 season.
Barrie also has two goals and 19 assists in 49 career playoff games.
The five-foot-11, 197-pound, right-handed shot is a power-play specialist with a career 210 power-play points.
The Edmonton Oilers’ power play ranked first in the NHL in 2021 and third in 2022 with Barrie quarterbacking the top unit.
He was dealt in February 2023 to the Nashville Predators, where he often found himself a healthy scratch last season playing just 41 games for a goal and 14 assists.
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Barrie wants to re-establish himself as a full-time NHL player “and a good one at that.”
“Now, kind of the real work starts,” he said. “Try to make the most of it and see if I can’t stick around a little longer.”
He joked that he worried about his cellphone reception when free agency opened July 1 and the phone remained silent.
“There are those moments you think ‘do you still want it? Do you want to keep going?'” Barrie said.
“I’ve been fortunate to play a long time and have some good contracts. I definitely had to make the conscious decision to put the work in and continue the journey.
“I’m going to try to play this game as long as I can and keep showing up until they lock the doors. It’s a lot of fun to be around the rink. The thought of not going on the road with the boys and having the night-before meals and a glass of red, it hurt. I had to stick around a little longer.”
Barrie was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in 2009 and spent eight seasons with the Avs before a season as a Toronto Maple Leaf and almost three with the Oilers.
When Colorado traded Barrie to Toronto for current Flames centre Nazem Kadri in 2019, the two swapped houses.
Barrie also has shared history with Flames captain Mikael Backlund and head coach Ryan Huska. The three won a Western Hockey League title with the Kelowna Rockets in 2009.
“He is a player that’s motivated right now and feels he has a lot to prove,” Huska said Friday. “His strength is the offensive side of the game, for sure, so I feel like it gives us another option offensively, on the power play, all that stuff.
“He played a lot of games in the NHL for a reason. He can handle himself defensively, without a doubt. He is motivated to be a guy that can be counted on in more than just the offensive situations like the power play.”
Barrie feels he can settle in more with new teammates now that he’s got another NHL job.
“Now that they can’t kick me out, I got a contract, I can get a little more vocal with the guys, so it’s good,” he said.
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