Jul 30, 2020
Barrie eager to show his best this postseason
Impending free agent has a chance to write a positive ending to an up-and-down season with the Maple Leafs, Kristen Shilton writes.
“I'm really glad we're getting a chance to come back and play. I feel like I've got more to offer and it's a good chance for me to show it,” Barrie said on a Zoom call from the NHL’s Eastern Conference Hub at the Royal York Hotel on Thursday.
“I feel pretty comfortable right now with my game, all things considered. It'll be a bit of a bizarre [thing] to jump right into playoffs after so much time off but it's a good opportunity to kind of make up for a bit of an up-and-down season.”
The 29-year-old blueliner and forward Alexander Kerfoot were dealt to Toronto on July 1, 2019, in exchange for centre Nazem Kadri and defenceman Calle Rosen. Expectations immediately soared over how Barrie’s offensive skill set would help improve the Leafs’ beleaguered blueline, and as an impending unrestricted free agent, it was in Barrie’s best interest to impress.
That proved to be difficult from the get-go. Former Leafs’ head coach Mike Babcock didn’t give Barrie the same top-unit power-play time he was accustomed to in Colorado and Barrie’s confidence seemed to sag as a result.
In the 22 games before Babcock was fired and replaced by Sheldon Keefe, Barrie amassed zero goals and six assists, a far cry from his scoring pace the previous two seasons, where he finished with 57 and 59 points respectively.
When Keefe took over, Barrie moved onto the Leafs’ first power-play group and his offensive output increased. But the rest of the campaign was still an inconsistent affair, and Barrie finished with just 39 points (five goals, 34 assists) in 70 games.
Returning to his native British Columbia during the NHL’s pause, Barrie regrouped mentally and physically, the results of which have been apparent since he came back - in somewhat delayed fashion - to the Leafs’ facilities.
“I think he's been good. We've been impressed with him really since he arrived here,” said Keefe. “He was one of our late arrivals into Phase 2 [voluntary workouts]. I think he was probably our last regular player to arrive. We were anxious to see what Tyson was going to be like when he arrived and where he was at – from his conditioning and the skill work and everything like that. But he put in a lot of good work back home himself and it was very clear that he wasn't behind in any way. That was very positive for us to see and there's been a lot of encouraging signs here that he's ready to go.”
Toronto has already played its one and only exhibition game before kicking off a best-of-five qualifying-round series against Columbus on Aug. 2, so Keefe’s main focus now is on making sure the Leafs’ preparedness stays at an all-time high.
That may well include mandatory viewing of the Blue Jackets’ preseason game against Boston on Thursday night.
“We'll definitely have it on, we'll be watching,” Barrie said. “But I think our coaches have had so much time to prepare, they’re going to hammer us with all the video and clips that we can handle. We've been watching a bunch and I'm sure there's lots more to come before we face off on Sunday.”
Keefe’s mid-season promotion behind Toronto’s bench didn’t allow for much system tweaking during the regular season, and he's made up for lost time during Phase 3’s training camp by trying to impart his brand of hockey upon the Leafs.
“I would define [a Sheldon Keefe team] as one that values the puck when they have it, and takes care of it and plays with purpose when they have it and are really committed to getting it back as quickly as possible through our pressure and defensive habits,” Keefe explained.
“There's a heightened awareness in everything you're doing [now]. So my expectation is that we'll pick up [systems] quicker than normal. We're not going to make any excuses here; we've had plenty of time to practise and we're expecting our guys to be prepared to execute.”
Implementing what's asked of them hasn't been Toronto's greatest strength this season, though. Not unlike Barrie, the Leafs struggled to find a good rhythm in the regular season and that hurt their collective confidence.
Toronto's hope is that those issues are far behind them now. But there’s only one way to know for sure.
“We've really worked hard here to clean up a lot of things in our game,” Keefe said. “And we're looking for greater consistency within that. Whether we're proving ourselves right, or proving others wrong, you can create that narrative any way you wish. We're just going to go out and perform.”