NHL Rumors: The Nashville Predators and Tyson Barrie

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: Barry Trotz wasn’t happy that word got out that Tyson Barrie had permission to talk to teams.

Nick Kieser: Trotz on 102.5 The Game was not happy how Barrie had handled being made a healthy scratch and then looking to talk to other teams about a potential trade. Trotz was disappointed that the word got out and added.

“There’s about four people in the world that knew.”

Robby Stanley: Barrie: “Well, if we’re getting into it, I’m in the stands so it doesn’t really feel like a great fit. My goal is to be playing hockey. Whether that’s here or elsewhere is up for the powers that be to decide.”

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  • Robby Stanley: Barrie on the talks that he’s had with head coach Andrew Brunette: “It was obviously disappointing for me and tough. But they were respectful. We both have respect for each other as people and human beings. It was never contentious. We maybe didn’t see eye-to-eye on some of the Xs and Os but nothing crazy.”
  • Robby Stanley: Barrie on how he feels he has played this season: “I feel like I’ve had some good moments and then pretty mediocre so I understand where they’re coming from. It’s a tough one for me. First time in a long time since this has happened. I don’t know, I’m trying not to really air it out in the media.”

Robby Stanley: (commenting on Barrie’s quotes) “You can tell he didn’t really feel comfortable talking about it in the media but once we went down that road, the train had left the station. Interested to see how it plays out. He mentioned multiple times how he didn’t want to be a distraction and wanted to make sure he was doing his part to be the best teammate he could be.”

Pierre LeBrun of the Athletic: Tyson Barrie carries a $4.5 million salary cap hit and that will play into things. The Predators are already retaining salary on Ryan Johansen ($4 million) and Mattias Ekholm ($250,000).

Have the understanding that GM Barry Tortz doesn’t really want to retain salary on Barrie, or if he was to retain, they’d want to it closer to the trade deadline. They could look at doing a ‘hockey trade’ but they also don’t really want to take a bad contract.

NHL Rumors: Tyson Barrie’s agent has permission from the Predators to talk to other teams

The Predators don’t see Barrie as a problem player, but with having eight defensemen and not liking the Barrie-Roman Josi on the top PP unit, his role has diminished. Trotz would like to trade Barrie somewhere, where he could fit in.