In advance of their return to action following the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Calgary Flames appear to be making a roster adjustment. Per a report from Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Flames are expected to be placing blueliner Tyson Barrie on waivers at noon MT on Thursday.
The 33-year-old Barrie joined the Flames on a professional try-out contract back in September for training camp, and he performed well enough to convert that PTO into a one year, one-way NHL deal with a $1.25 million cap hit. He was one of the fun stories to follow during camp, with the hope that his pizzazz with the puck could help revive the Flames’ flagging power play following a tough 2023-24 season for that special teams group.
Well, the good news is that the Flames’ PP is much improved from a year ago. The bad news is that Barrie hasn’t had very much to do with it. Through 55 games this season, Barrie has played 13 times and been a healthy scratch 41 times – he was briefly away from the club on an AHL conditioning stint during the club’s other game.
The Flames have been carrying eight defencemen for the entirety of the season, often scratching two blueliners per game. Barrie has, unfortunately, slid to the eighth slot in the pecking order. Considering that the Flames have only been carrying one extra forward due to carrying eight defenders, it’s limited their lineup flexibility and capped the number of call-up opportunities for younger players on the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers.
Simply put: Barrie earned a shot at the NHL by having a strong training camp. Unfortunately, that shot hasn’t worked out as of yet, and so he’s hitting the waiver wire. Should he clear, he’ll likely be headed to the Wranglers, where he’ll have a good opportunity to remain in Calgary and help out a pretty young blueline group on a team that’s one of the better outfits in the AHL.
Should Barrie clear and be assigned to the AHL, $1.15 million of his $1.25 million cap hit will come off the books, and the Flames would carry a $100,000 cap penalty.
At present, the Flames have 10 defencemen counting against their salary cap:
  • Rasmus Andersson, MacKenzie Weegar, Daniil Miromanov, Jake Bean, Brayden Pachal, Joel Hanley, Ilya Solovyov and Yan Kuznetsov on the active roster
  • Kevin Bahl on the injury reserve list
  • Barrie, reportedly, on waivers
The Flames are back in action on Sunday when they host the San Jose Sharks.
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