The Edmonton Oilers have extended Tyson Barrie for three years to stay in Edmonton. His deal is worth an average of 4.5 million as first reported by Ryan Rishaug on Twitter. This is a great move for the Oilers as they keep one of their top defencemen in Edmonton for a few more seasons.
The Edmonton Oilers relied on Tyson Barrie a lot last season in an offensive role.
Barrie put up eight goals and 40 points in 56 games in Edmonton. It was his first season in Edmonton and arguably his best ever in his career. It is amazing, he led all defencemen in points, and yet was not up for the Norris trophy.
Barrie and Darnell Nurse make a pretty good defensive pairing, and with the addition of Duncan Keith and potentially Cody Ceci, the team is only going to get better on the back end. While losing Ethan Bear and Adam Larsson is not ideal for the franchise, it does allow for them to take their blue line in a different direction.
Once Seattle signed Larsson I think that sealed the deal for Edmonton to bring back Tyson Barrie, and while I was originally hesitant about keeping Barrie after one great season, I think they made the right move bringing him back.
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So with Tyson Barrie re-signed, the blue line could look something like this next season:
Darnell Nurse – Tyson Barrie
Duncan Keith – Evan Bouchard
Kris Russel – Cody Ceci*
Ceci has not signed a contract yet in Edmonton, but it is believed he will sign here as of now, of course with free agency craziness now underway anything can happen.
This Oilers blue line looks different compared to last season, and while those differences might not be ideal, I think that this is still a pretty good group the team is putting together. Now we will have to wait and see what the team decides to do. Keeping a top guy like Barrie though definitely should provide a sigh of relief for fans.