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| Tyson and dog pal Ralph |
It is an overcast morning in Toronto as Auston Matthews drives west out of Toronto’s downtown core with Tyson Barrie in the passenger seat. The Maple Leafs team charter is waiting to depart at 11 a.m. and head south to sunnier skies. The Leafs are playing the Florida Panthers on Sunday evening, but the opportunity to spend a few extra hours in the sun on an off day has the players in high spirits.
On the flight, Barrie sits beside Matthews, as has become customary. Earlier in the season, there was an empty seat beside Matthews on a flight and Barrie was in need of one.
“Luck of the draw I guess,” says Barrie.
The pair pull out a laptop and headphone splitters.
They’re deep into “Money Heist,” a Netflix series about nine thieves trying to rob Spain’s Royal Mint.
They don’t get very far. Barrie is prone to stopping and discussing the show.
“I always hit the space bar,” says Barrie. “I like to break it down.”
Matthews shakes his head.
“He makes you laugh,” says Matthews.
It wasn’t long ago that it looked as if Barrie might not have the time to develop a close relationship with Matthews.
After a summer trade from the Colorado Avalanche that saw Toronto fan favourite Nazem Kadri go the other way, Barrie’s initial transition to Toronto wasn’t a smooth one. He had played his entire NHL career in Colorado, where the spotlight is nowhere near as intense. He struggled to defend and his freewheeling approach on the ice was stifled under Mike Babcock’s system.
“You get traded for a guy that was here for a long time and was a big part of this team, fans really liked Naz around here. He was a heart and soul guy, great player,” says Barrie. “He goes out, I come in, there’s some pressure that comes with that. People saw what I did in Colorado and they’re expecting the same thing. To come and not deliver right off the bat was tough.”
On Nov. 16, it was reported that NHL teams had contacted the Leafs about a possible trade for Barrie. In an 18-game stretch throughout October and November, the offensively-gifted defenceman had just one point.
But Barrie’s game has found new life under Sheldon Keefe and the spotlight is becoming easier to deal with. The night before, Barrie takes part in the MLSE Foundation’s “A Night with Blue and White” fundraiser. Along with the team stars including Matthews, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly and John Tavares, Barrie plays Family Feud against celebrated Leafs alumni such as Doug Gilmour and Darryl Sittler.
“Unfortunately we lost,” says Rielly. “(Tavares) kind of blew it for us. But I wasn’t great either.”
He took issue with them answering “Darth Vader” to the question: Which “Star Wars” character would you choose to be your teammate?
“He’d be a horrible teammate,” says Barrie. “He’s evil. He’d kill you.”
Barrie’s team might have lost, but the company made for a good night.
“It’s nice to be together,” he says. “And if it’s for a good cause, that’s great.”
After the team lands and checks in to their hotel on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Barrie and a handful of players move to a nearby patio bar. Barrie orders a Corona.
“Just embracing the beach, the day off and unwinding a little bit,” he says.
The Leafs might have lost their last two games, but many players wear smiles throughout a 12:15 p.m. practice at the BB&T Center. Barrie is no different.
After the practice, some players head out for a round of golf. Barrie, dressed in a plain white T-shirt and faded blue jeans, boards the bus back to the hotel. Like so much in his life, he is comfortable going with the flow.
Upon returning to the team’s hotel, Barrie and his teammates find a buffet lunch including lobster and steak awaiting them.
Barrie samples both before moving with Matthews, Rielly and Marner across North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard onto the beach that stares out at the Atlantic Ocean.
The conversation is lighter than the lunch. Feeling a kinship with his new teammates has made life with the Leafs easier.
“It was nice to be able to come in and feel comfortable with and share the same sense of humour,” says Barrie. “When I was struggling earlier in the year, it was good to have them to lean back on.”
It was a shared sense of humour — based on a lot of self-deprecation — that led Barrie to grow especially close with Matthews. It didn’t hurt that their homes in Toronto are close by.
“I’d play a bad game and I’d just carve myself,” says Barrie. “We’d have a big laugh at it.”
Matthews calls Barrie an “easy-going guy who is fun to be around.”
The laughs continue on the beach. A few Leafs fans stop to say hello, but the attention mostly goes to Matthews.
“He’s got the big body,” says Barrie, “and the big mustache.”
Later that evening, after a quick dip in a hot tub, Barrie leads a few players north to Café Martorano, a “hole in the wall,” that former teammate Nathan MacKinnon introduced him to.
The chicken parmesan, complete with San Marzano tomatoes and fresh pappardelle tossed in butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano, would knock anyone out after a long day. Barrie is in bed by 11 p.m., and he channel surfs to end his day.
With Keefe curbing morning skates, the team does not make the 30-minute drive to the BB&T Center.
Instead, they head back to the beach for a more dynamic warm-up. For 15 minutes, one of the team’s strength and conditioning coaches, Louis Rojas, leads a number of barefoot exercises in the sand, including sprints.
“I loved getting out there,” says Barrie. “It’s good to do something different and enjoy your surroundings.”
About half an hour before puck drop, with the lights of the BB&T Center down low and the sound of Meek Mill’s “Going Bad” blaring throughout the arena, Barrie is second on the ice after Frederik Andersen.
He knocks a single puck from the top of a pyramid onto the ice with his left palm.
Throughout the warm-up, Barrie spends time on his own practicing dangling with the puck at the half wall. He finishes the warm-up by firing one-timers fed by Marner and is off the ice at the exact moment the warm-up timer concludes.
While some might grow anxious having hours to kill before puck drop, Barrie is not one of them.
“I don’t need to think about the game all day,” he says. “We have our meetings and we focus on what you need to focus on.”
But the Leafs lack focus against the Panthers. They allow multiple odd-man rushes and Barrie is on the ice for four goals against, the most of any defenceman. Barrie was frozen in front of the net as Aleksander Barkov leisurely skated towards him and scored.
The Leafs lose 8-4 to the Panthers in one of their most embarrassing efforts of the season. Barrie logs 19:56, his second-lowest ice time in his last 10 games.
“When you lose a big game like that, against a division rival, and you give up big goals, it’s disappointing in a different way,” says Barrie. “Guys were upset.”
On the flight back to Toronto, Barrie and Matthews opt not to continue with “Money Heist.”
“We stopped watching it because it was giving us way too much anxiety on plane rides,” says Matthews. “It was getting out of hand.”
Barrie and Matthews chat quietly before each plug in their headphones.
Barrie arrives home around 2 a.m. and heads straight to bed.
On his days off, Barrie tends not to set his alarm. Instead, he gets up at “whatever time my dog lets me.”
Today, that means Ralph, a golden doodle, wakes Barrie up at 7 a.m. to step outside.
Barrie returns to bed. Around 10 a.m., he again relents to Ralph and drives 15 minutes south to Cherry Beach, home to one of Toronto’s most popular off-leash dog parks. Barrie appreciates Toronto’s many dog parks and believes Ralph does too.
“I wasn’t a diehard dog guy, but now that I’ve got Ralph, he’s my best buddy,” says Barrie.
Ralph also gets along well with Matthews.
“Auston’s the dog father,” says Barrie. “They have a good bond.”
After a few laps, both Barrie and Ralph have worked up an appetite. Back home, Barrie feeds Ralph and instead of firing up a food delivery app as many of his younger teammates might, he begins putting together his own lunch. Barrie learned the joy of cooking while making use of the “beautiful kitchen” at his Denver home.
“It’s more of a feel thing than using a recipe,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun to throw some good music on, have a glass of red wine and cook a little bit.” Barrie makes a turkey bolognese sauce before tossing in chickpea pasta.
“You should try it,” he says.
The influence of former teammate Nathan MacKinnon extends beyond restaurant recommendations. MacKinnon, who is dedicated to eating healthy, turned Barrie on to chickpea pasta.
“It’s working for him, obviously,” says Barrie.
Just before 1:30 p.m., Barrie’s phone buzzes with a new email alert: Pearl Jam, has just announced “Gigaton,” their first new album in more than six years. The email contains details on a North American tour that will kick off in Toronto on March 18 at Scotiabank Arena.
Barrie quickly checks the team’s schedule and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees the team will not be on the road. He’s been a member of the band’s official fan club, the Ten Club, for five years now. He starts researching how to submit a request for designated fan club tickets.
“I didn’t even really know they were working on a new album,” says Barrie. “But that’s how they operate. I’m excited we’re not on the road and we’ll get to see them.”
On game days, when Barrie’s alarm goes off at 9:30 a.m., he has little time to hang with Ralph and get out the door. He prefers it that way.
With a quick shower and no coffee or breakfast, Barrie is out of his condo in less than 20 minutes. His goal is to be inside Scotiabank Arena by 10:15 a.m.
He heads into the subway for the 12-minute commute on the TTC south to Union Station and then into Scotiabank Arena. After swapping homes with Kadri following the trade, the former Leaf told Barrie about the benefits of taking public transportation to games.
“I’ve got it down,” says Barrie.
Today, he arrives well before his self-imposed deadline and sits down to a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon, passing on any available carbs until later in the day.
“I’d blow up if I had that many carbs,” says Barrie.
Ahead of every game, Barrie cuts a new stick and puts new laces into his skates. He skips the optional morning skate, as always. Power play meetings follow. Barrie then gets out the foam roller and begins to stretch. If he’s logged heavy minutes in his previous game, his legs will get a massage.
Today, Barrie is the first player to speak to the media in the dressing room. Rielly broke his foot in a game against the Panthers, so Barrie — Rielly’s defensive partner — is expected to have a more prominent role.
Wearing blue shorts and a blue hoodie with his No. 94 on the front, Barrie keeps his message succinct: “We’ve got to take pride. Some of us on the back end will have more opportunity and will be relied upon more. So it’s going to be a big challenge for us.”
Closer to noon, Barrie eats a typical pregame lunch: pasta with chicken and olive oil.
“I try to keep it pretty bland so you’re not tasting anything later,” he says.
He eats quietly seeing as his schedule doesn’t line up with many of his teammates’.
“I’m usually the last one to eat,” he says. “Everyone eats so early here. I’m in there at like 11:45 and everyone’s gone!”
After a quick trip home on the subway, Barrie puts on a pair of NormaTec compression pants to optimize recovery time ahead of the game, and watches an episode of “Arrested Development.”
Once the episode is done, he calls his dad Len, a former NHL player, to chat about players they know and news around the league.
“He loves talking hockey,” says Barrie.
By 1:30 p.m., he’s ready for his pregame nap. Two hours later, Barrie wakes for his pregame meal: a “quick hitter,” that he, once again, learned from MacKinnon. He whips up one, sometimes two if he’s feeling adventurous, paleo pancakes. No syrup. He brews a coffee and once again, things are quiet.
“That’s probably my favourite part of my day,” says Barrie. “A nice Americano, a couple pancakes, relax. The calm before the storm.”
Barrie arrives back at Scotiabank Arena at least two hours before puck drop. He’ll skip the team’s soccer game, instead opting to foam roll and “shoot the shit” with teammates.
“Keep it light,” he says.
After team meetings, Barrie begins his full warm-up. He takes 25 minutes to stretch out and “activate.”
“They want us to do three exercises before every game,” says Barrie. “Which I’ve never done before, but I don’t mind it.”
When he dresses, he puts on the same ragged, white Reebok shoulder pads he’s had since playing for the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets.
“They do the job,” says Barrie. “I don’t really see the need to switch ‘em up. I probably don’t use my shoulder pads as much as other guys.”
His jersey is the last piece he puts on. It always falls into a tuck inside his pants on his left hip, which bears a resemblance to a certain look made famous by Wayne Gretzky.
“I think I’m small, and my pants are big,” says Barrie. “Unintentional Gretzky tuck.”
Compared to other games, one MLSE staffer calls it as quiet a scene outside the Leafs dressing room as warm-ups approach as she has ever heard. Only four fans stand behind a barrier to watch Barrie give Mitch Marner a tap with his stick and become the second player out onto the ice at 6:29 p.m. Just as he used to follow Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog out as the third player on the ice for warm-ups, Barrie generally follows Jake Muzzin out. But with Muzzin sideline with an injury, Barrie is now second on the ice after Frederik Andersen.
Barrie gives a young fan holding a “Muzz get well soon” sign a fist-bump and offers a quick wink and a smile at other fans standing nearby. He again spends time dangling by the blue line in the warm-up. He will stop from time-to-time to survey players in front of him. He feeds Marner one-timers near the face-off dot before Marner returns the favour as Barrie stands by the blue line.
As the buzzer goes to signal the end of warm-up, Barrie steps off the ice, third from last, leaving Matthews and Marner on the ice. He claims he is not superstitious.
Barrie and the Leafs return to the win column with a dominant, 7-4 showing over the New Jersey Devils. But Barrie plays just 17:52, his fourth-lowest total of the season.
More than ever, with promising defenceman Rasmus Sandin having returned to the Leafs, the voices questioning Barrie’s role with the Leafs have gotten louder.
After the game, Barrie lifts weights with the rest of the team, though “not by choice.”
“We play so much, our schedule is so busy, I wouldn’t lift a ton of weights during the year,” says Barrie. “I like to do more recovery stuff. As long as my hips feel good, I’m good. That’s really the biggest thing, keeping my hips loose because I’ve had some issues in the past.”
After grabbing a protein shake, Barrie heads home to continue watching “Arrested Development.” He’s ventured into the murky waters of the cult classic: the questionable fourth season, called “Fateful Consequences,” which features an inconsistent narrative.
He’s on episode three of the season, but he’s committed to seeing it through, even if he believes the whole series has gone “sideways” by this point.
“Not in love with it right now,” he says.
As Barrie makes the 30-minute drive to the Ford Performance Centre for practice, he feels the need to switch up his routine.
Instead of listening to one of his typical playlists that includes Pearl Jam, Cigarettes After Sex and the Lumineers, Barrie is “feeling a bit gangster this morning” and opts for DaBaby and Roddy Ricch.
“But that’s unusual for me,” he says.
At 11:41 a.m., Barrie walks across the lobby from the Leafs practice rink to the Marlies practice rink for a skills session.
As soon as he takes the ice, he begins yapping at William Nylander, and tries to dangle around him with the puck. From a distance, Barrie then tries to hit the post with shots. He does not, and the group of defencemen gathered at one end of the ice give him grief.
The defencemen are joined by Leafs assistant coach Dave Hakstol, who runs drills with an emphasis on puck movement and maintaining possession, close to the goal.
Whenever Barrie gets a chance, he shouts down to the other end of the ice to get Nylander’s attention.
His need to switch things up has continued: Barrie is trying out one of Nylander’s sticks during the skills session.
The reasoning? Barrie shrugs.
“Always looking for something new,” he says.
At 12:02 p.m., with the full team practice now slightly behind schedule, Keefe bangs his stick on the glass and leaves. Every player follows him.
When Barrie walks into the Leafs practice rink, he is greeted by “Bastille” by Pompeii blasting from a speaker in the stands.
Keefe was known to play music during Marlies practices, but Wednesday is just the second time the Leafs have done so.
Barrie is becoming a fan.
“I wasn’t the first time we did it, but this was better today,” he says. “It was louder and they had more appropriate songs.”
Throughout practice, Barrie eagerly chats to any nearby teammate.
At 12:39 p.m., as Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” plays from the speakers, practice wraps up.
After practice, Barrie and the rest of the team receive a guest speech from Molly Bloom, the former competitive skier-turned-motivational speaker and author of “Molly’s Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World!”
Her book was adapted into the Aaron Sorkin-directed film, “Molly’s Game.” The focus of the hour-long talk was her own redemption and second chances, something Barrie knows all too well. It’s no surprise that was one of his takeaways from her speech.
“You can make mistakes and get back on your feet,” says Barrie of the speech.
Barrie appreciated the team having the opportunity to ask questions. He was curious just how some of the high-profile clients were invited to the game.
After he returns home, Barrie takes Ralph for a stroll through Grange Park before walks to Moretti in downtown Toronto for dinner.
Barrie again orders chicken parmigiana. It’s become his go-to meal the night before a game to keep him full the following day.
“I’m a sucker,” he says.
Barrie is joined by Mitch Marner for dinner.
“He’s an infectious personality to be around,” says Barrie of Marner.
It is the support of his teammates which has helped Barrie, in his estimation, “find my groove.”
“It’s really tough when you spend your whole career somewhere and then you make a move and you don’t gel right away, you don’t fit in, things aren’t going great for you,” said Barrie. “But luckily, I’ve made some good friends on the team that have a good sense of humour and will get you through it.”
Things have improved so much that he admits he’d like to stay in Toronto beyond this season.
“I’m getting to love the city, I love the guys and Sheldon’s great,” says Barrie. “Kyle and Shanny have been great to me.”
After two less-than-stellar games, Barrie plays as well as ever in a Leafs jersey against the Calgary Flames. He moves the puck confidently and jumps into the play, looking like the player that the Leafs traded for. It was only when Barrie, manning the first power-play unit as he did in Colorado, found John Tavares from the point, who then set up William Nylander, did the Leafs score the game’s tying goal. It is Barrie’s 10th point in his last 11 games.
“The style of play that we’re playing suits my game quite a bit better,” says Barrie.
Though the Leafs go just 1-for-4 with the man advantage and lose in a shootout, Barrie’s 24:02 ice time is the most of any Leafs defenceman, and his 6:03 of power-play time is a team-high.
After the game, Barrie grabs a bottle of yellow SOS hydration drink.
“It would’ve been nice to capitalize on another one of those power plays,” he says.
At 10:21 p.m., Barrie walks alone up the two sets of stairs from the Leafs dressing room, again wearing his black suit, and through a small lobby towards the Bay Street exit.
Just around the corner from the exit is a wall-sized photo of the Leafs stars, including Barrie.
Outside, temperatures have dropped to what feels like -14, some of the coldest weather of the season. There is a man drumming relentlessly outside the arena. Handfuls of fans are eagerly flagging down their Uber drivers.
Barrie’s mother arrived mid-game and she is waiting for him in his apartment with another bowl of chickpea pasta, this time, tossed with pancetta.
Barrie pushes open the door and walks out into the cold of the city he now calls home.
Let's hope he stays.
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