The winding Trans-Canada Highway took on one of its most stunning stretches through British Columbia and Tyson Barrie’s head kept moving.
The 13-year NHL veteran would glance out the window of his SUV at sprawling mountains, then look to his right at his six-year-old Aussiedoodle named Ralph, sitting in the passenger seat. Midway through a 14-hour drive, the world of chartered flights felt far away.
At one end of the drive, his home on Vancouver Island including his wife Emma, his three-year-old son and his new daughter, not even a month old.
On the other, uncertainty: His final destination was an AirBnb in Calgary.
Barrie was once considered one of the NHL’s pre-eminent offensive defencemen. Between 2013 and 2019, his 73 goals were the 10th-highest among blueliners. His last contract, signed with the Edmonton Oilers, was worth $13.5 million over three years. Yet when that contract ended, Barrie was 32 and had been traded to the Nashville Predators. He was a free agent waiting for contract offers from other NHL teams.
The only call he got around free agency was an offer from the Calgary Flames. Not with the security of one last lengthy deal, but with three letters Barrie was not accustomed to: PTO.
A “Professional Tryout” is just that: An offer from a team to come to…
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