The Avalanche and restricted free-agent defenseman Tyson Barrie are scheduled to go through a salary arbitration hearing in Toronto on Friday at 7 a.m. MDT, but it remains possible that the two sides will agree to contract terms before the hearing opens, leading to its cancellation.



In fact, after defenseman Michael Stone signed with Arizona on Thursday afternoon, 23 of the 25 NHL players who were scheduled for arbitration hearings instead had reached agreements with their teams. Only Barrie and Toronto defenseman Martin Marincin (hearing Tuesday) remained on the arbitration docket. So if Barrie’s camp and the Avalanche actually move forward with the arbitration hearing, it will be the first of the NHL’s offseason.

Colorado last week reached a one-year, $1.3 million agreement with forward Mikhail Grigorenko two days before his scheduled arbitration hearing.

Elliotte Friedman of Canada’s Sportsnet reported that the Barrie camp — including agent Don Meehan of Newport Sports Management — will argue for a $6 million, one-year deal, while the Avalanche will counter with a two-year deal calling for Barrie to make $4 million and $4.25 million in the next two seasons. The arbitrator would hear and consider the arguments, then announce a decision setting the salary — which can be a compromise figure — within 48 hours. The Avalanche would have the option of walking away from that decision, and Barrie would become an unrestricted free agent.

The $6 million is an especially significant figure because it matches the team’s highest salaries for 2016-17 — those of Matt Duchene, Erik Johnson and Semyon Varlamov. (Nathan MacKinnon’s seven-year, $44.1 million deal calls for him to make $5 million in the upcoming season before his salary escalates.) The Avalanche, including with Newport Sports client Ryan O’Reilly, previously has been stubborn about maintaining a structure that essentially preserves a salary hierarchy among its best players.

The Avalanche and O’Reilly’s camp, including agent Pat Morris, were about to go into the arbitration room two years ago when they compromised and agreed to a two-year, $12 million deal. O’Reilly had been seeking $6.75 million in a one-year deal, while the Avs were offering $5.25 million. O’Reilly made $5.75 million in the first year of the two-year deal before Colorado traded him in 2015, deciding it wouldn’t be able to reach agreement with the center on a contract extension.

Barrie, 24, equaled his career high of 13 goals and had 36 assists last season. The arbitration hearing could get bruising, with the Barrie camp citing his offensive numbers and arguing that as a terrific skater and puckhandler, he is among the top offensive defensemen in the league; but with the Avalanche countering that as an undersized defenseman, he has deficiencies in the Colorado end.