The Edmonton Oilers Need More From Tyson Barrie

Tyson Barrie is someone I’ve spoken extremely high of in the past, especially coming into this season on a brand new contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

As the replacement for Adam Larsson, Barrie was, and still is going to be leaned on to be one of the best on the back end for the entire season with the Edmonton Oilers. The amount of offensive production Barrie provides every season is impressive, even if the majority of his points are secondary assists. He can quarterback the best power play in the league with ease and can score every so often adding to his abilities in the offensive zone.

Through 4 games, Barrie has 2 points. Both of which are secondary assists. He and Bouchard are atop the leaderboard on the Oilers for points from defensemen, and I don’t expect that to change at all throughout the year.

The struggles for Barrie though comes in his own end. To put it bluntly, he looks brutal. The only goal the Coyotes scored that broke Koskinen’s shutout, was caused by a defensive mishap that he had. Not only that, his hockey IQ seems to be the same as last year, as he’s an offensive first defenseman who relies on his D partner to bail him out of bad situations he puts them in. Whether it’s a bad pinch, a bad pass, or getting caught on the wrong side, Barrie has not started as strong as I would’ve hoped.

Now just like for everyone else on the team who’s struggling, there is no need to panic yet. The season just started, and Barrie put the work in during the offseason and continues to be working on his defensive game during practice.

Hopefully, he can continue to improve and become an elite-level two-way defenseman by midseason, because Bouchard is looking like a star and Tippett should have no issue letting Barrie drop a pairing or two to give him a chance.