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Now that O'Reilly is signed, you know the Avs are focused on locking down Tyson Barrie. Tyson is coming off as big of a breakout year as a young puck-moving defenseman can. Sent back to the AHL, relegated to eating nachos, and becoming Mr. Clutch all in one season is nothing short of amazing. He was second only to Erik Johnson in blueliner points (38 to Johnson's 39) and led all defensemen in total goals and power play goals. Patrick Roy even called him the team's best defenseman in the playoffs. So what's he worth?
I'd expect a deal much like Johnson's bridge deal (2 years at $5.2M), but don't forget that Barrie is represented by the ever-willing-to-negotiate-reasonably Newport Sports. In case you forgot, the Avs have been dealing with them a bit lately. So they're probably trying to get something closer to EJ's current deal, 4 years at $15M.
After the O'Reilly signing, the Avs have less than $3M room under the cap with which to work. Of course, they could go over now, as long as they have some plan to get back under it before the season starts. Knowing how fiscally minded the Avs are, I suspect they're going to avoid that situation as much as possible.
So what say you, MHHers? How much does Barrie get?