The Colorado Avalanche have had a lot of very important players come and go in the 30 years that the franchise has been in the Mile High City. Some have won multiple Cups, some just one, while some didn’t have success in the burgundy and blue but yielded some down the line. On Monday, one of those important names announced he was hanging up the skates for good.
After 822 NHL games, Tyson Barrie is calling it a career. 👏
Best of luck in retirement! pic.twitter.com/3lcarmiaZw
— NHL (@NHL) August 25, 2025
Tyson Barrie, a defenseman who spent the better part of eight seasons 2012-19 with the Avalanche, officially called it a career. He was selected with the No. 64 pick in the third round of the 2009 Draft and made his pro debut a few seasons later with the Lake Erie Monsters. He provided a punch from the blue line on offense for the team and set the Avalanche record (Steve Duchesne still holds the franchise record at 15 games) for consecutive games with a point by a defenseman, with 11 (Cale Makar has one-upped that twice now).
In eight years with the Avalanche, Barrie put up 307 points, 512 blocks and 327 hits in 484 games played. While Makar has skewed the perception of what a normal defenseman’s numbers should look like, Barrie was very solid for Colorado. In 21 playoffs games wearing a burgundy and blue sweater, he totaled 14 points.
Barrie was apart of that 2016-17 team that recorded just 48 points throughout the entire season, but was a leader of those teams throughout the 2010s. However, one of his most important contributions to the franchise was what he yielded them in a trade.
At the start of the 2019 offseason, the Avalanche traded a package, highlighted by Barrie, away to the Toronto Maple Leafs in return for a package highlighted by center Nazem Kadri. It goes without saying how important Kadri was to the Avalanche’s success in the early 2020s, as his performance in the playoffs is a large reason why they emerged as the Stanley Cup Campions in 2022.
After his time in Colorado, Barrie spent one year in Toronto, three in Edmonton, two in Nashville and one in Calgary. He didn’t see much playing time in his final two seasons, a sign that his time had come. He finished his career with 822 games played and 508 points.
Barrie is not going to be one of the greats in Avalanche history, but he will always be a good name that will get brought up when reminiscing teams of the past.
