They didn’t travel the smoothest road, but the Colorado Avalanche found the light at the end of the tunnel with Tyson Barrie.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Avs signed Tyson Barrie to a four-year, $22 million contract, which works out to a cap hit of $5.5 million per season.
The Avalanche confirmed that it’s a four-year contract, although they didn’t share the financial terms.
The Denver Post’s Terry Frei breaks down how Barrie’s salary will work out each year:
This comes after Barrie became the first player to reach salary arbitration during this off-season.
Whether that process was nasty or not - feelings sometimes get hurt during the rare instances when hearings actually take place - it’s clear that they were able to work something out.
This seems like a good deal for Barrie if you factor in how close the total came to what he was asking for in arbitration:
Of course, with Barrie being 25, the Avalanche get to eat up some UFA time for Barrie, a valuable commodity as a high-scoring defenseman.
This just about takes care of Colorado’s cap space:
For some time, there was a fear that the Avs were going down the same road with Barrie that they traveled with Ryan O’Reilly. Instead, this result is a breath of fresh air.
Granted, don’t ever dismiss the possibility of people drumming up trade rumors the moment things seem a little sour ...