It’s the final countdown. We’re just over one week away from the NHL’s March 3 trade deadline. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered at Daily Faceoff with at least one trade-focused story each day leading up to the deadline.
Here, we’re going to hone in on St. Louis Blues winger Ivan Barbashev, who captured the attention of the league with a breakout season last year but has regressed to the mean in his contract season.
IVAN BARBASHEV
Left Winger, St. Louis Blues
Shoots: Left
Age: 27
Cap hit: $2.25 million
Term: Pending UFA
Trade clauses: No restrictions
Stats: 56 GP, 10 goals, 18 assists, 28 points, 16:18 ATOI
Career: 7th season (all with St. Louis), 407 games, 78 goals, 177 points, 13:46 ATOI
Secondary scoring winger. Third line.
Barbashev has shown the ability to play up and down the lineup as a classic elevator player. If he’s playing on your third line, that means your team is deep and ready to make an authentic run at a Stanley Cup.
Here’s the thing about Barbashev: He doesn’t fit neatly into any one box and is a nightmare for anyone working on an archetype ranking series project like the one we did earlier this season on Daily Faceoff. He is a solid, middle-six NHL forward with a lot of strong attributes — but none that sticks out as elite, hence the third line fit and role as a secondary scorer.
Barbashev competes hard in all three zones and is responsible. Even though he isn’t "fast," he doesn’t cheat for offense. He contests pucks by getting into slot lanes, finishes checks and presents a strong support option for his defensemen to break pucks out of the zone.
One of Barbashev’s best attributes is that he knows his own game. He has awareness of who he is, what he does well and what he needs to do to be successful. He rarely transports the puck, but when he gets it in the offensive zone, he can find teammates for good looks. Barbashev is more of a passer than a shooter. He doesn’t take many shots, rather waiting for teammates to get open and dishing, instead of firing off pucks. That explains why his shooting percentage is relatively high over his career compared to other forwards.
As a playmaker, Barbashev is best suited to make small area plays. He can use his frame to protect the puck, draw in defenders and then dish nearby to teammates for shots. Barbashev will sometimes make plays against the grain to all areas of the offensive zone, but he wouldn’t be considered a high-end distributor. He is best-suited to play on a line with a player who can hunt pucks, plus a third player who is predisposed to shoot first.
Barbashev can contribute to both special teams units. On the power play, Barbashev can play the net-front position well; he competes for loose pucks off of shots and finds teammates well from in and around the net. On the penalty kill, Barbashev can log second-unit minutes and is willing to eat shots and play physical to make life harder on opposition power plays.
Since going No. 33 overall to the Blues in 2014, the question mark surrounding Barbashev has always been his feet and his pace. He lacks explosiveness that generates separation, which is why he isn’t the best player to transport the puck up the ice and gain entry into the offensive zone. He is best playing with players who bring the pace and clear space for him.
While Barbashev is willing to play physically, he isn’t always physical. He picks his spots. When the time is right, he will engage and fight for contested pucks, but there are times he doesn’t get there on-time, and others when he doesn’t fight through. That can be utterly maddening for coaches.
From a skill-set perspective, while Barbashev can can make plays to attack, he isn’t always a threat. So better defenders opt to close on him quickly and attempt to kill plays while he has the puck. Because he isn’t really a shot threat, defenders can also shy away from him and then recover quickly, making life a little bit harder on his linemates as they’re also vying for time and space.
Lastly, while he has a Stanley Cup ring and a lot of playoff experience, Barbashev has historically not been a big playoff producer. He has just three goals in 50 career playoff games and collected just six points during St. Louis’ 26-game run in 2019. He was a healthy scratch for one of the games. That could be matchup-related, or the fact that as teams get better and the games become more difficult to win, Barbashev has a harder time finding the space and time necessary to make plays amid the battle.
March 16, 2022
To Calgary: Calle Jarnkrok
To Seattle: 2022 second-round pick (David Goyette), 2023 third-round pick, 2024 seventh-round pick, 50 percent retained
The price paid by Calgary last spring for Jarnkrok is probably closer to the high end of what the Blues might be able to expect for Barbashev. But the Flames really liked the fit. The seventh-round pick was the payment for the Kraken to retain half to make the money work.
March 20, 2022
To Tampa Bay: Nick Paul
To Ottawa: Mathieu Joseph, 2024 fourth-round pick, 44.5 percent retained
If the Blues wanted to focus on a player acquisition as opposed to purely futures with the pick, the Paul for Joseph deal might be a fit.
Barbashev brings solid depth and Stanley Cup experience, but he appears to lack a killer instinct in the playoffs. He would be a solid contributor to a team’s third-line depth and second-unit special teams. Overall, he is a luxury addition for a great team, and a good player on a team that wants a little more juice for a run.
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