Avs Add Another Maritime Talent in Justin Barron

As the 2020 NHL Draft was moving to the final picks of the first round and with midnight approaching on the Canadian Eastern Seaboard, Justin Barron and his family continued watching the first round unfold from their home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, patiently waiting to see if the 18-year-old's name would be called and a dream realized.
The Colorado Avalanche put an end to the wait just past 11 p.m. Atlantic Time on Tuesday as the club selected Barron with the 25th overall pick, making him the fourth player born in Nova Scotia to be drafted by the franchise.
"It was a long night sitting there, but it's all worth it," Barron said in a video conference call at the conclusion of Round 1. "I couldn't be happier to be a part of the Avalanche organization."
The Halifax Mooseheads' team captain for the 2020-21 campaign checks off all the boxes the Avs were looking for in its first-round pick as he possesses a high hockey IQ, strong skating and the ability to play the game fast.

Slotted high on the team's final list, his availability at 25 made it an easy decision for general manager Joe Sakic and his staff to select the right-shooting D with their first pick of the 2020 proceedings. In the Avalanche's opinion, Barron was the best player available.
"He was a guy that we had ranked higher than where we got him," Sakic said. "He's really going to add to the way we like to play the game. We like to play from the backend with a lot of speed, a lot of puck-moving ability, and he's a real good two-way player. He can defend well and penalty kill as well."
Barron is a player that wants to be counted on in all situations, including at crucial moments in a game, and he's done as much during his time with the Mooseheads.
"I think I skate really well and think the game really well. I think those are my two biggest strengths," he said. "I kind of pride myself on being a guy that can play on the PK, play on the power play, play last minute of the game and a guy that can play against other team's top lines. I think I kind of bring a mix in that sense of a two-way style defenseman game."

The Avs seems to be stockpiling talent from Canada's Atlantic coast as the team's list of players from Nova Scotia and the Maritimes continues to grow, a group led by another homegrown talent that also played for the Mooseheads in Nathan MacKinnon.
In addition to Barron and MacKinnon, Yarmouth native Ryan Graves had a breakout season on defense for the Avalanche in 2019-20 and prospect Shane Bowers of Halifax played his first professional campaign last year in the American Hockey League with the Colorado Eagles. The Avs drafted another Halifax native in Matthew Stienburg in 2019 and picked up an additional Maritimer in that draft as well in Alex Newhook, the 16th overall pick from St. John's, Newfoundland.
Barron is familiar with all of those players in Colorado's system as well as defenseman Bowen Byram, the No. 4 pick in last year's draft that won gold with the newest Avs prospect on Team Canada at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
"I know Alex Newhook, Bowen Byram, Matthew Stienburg, Shane Bowers, I know all of them pretty well," Barron said. "I was able to skate once with MacKinnon when he was home before returning back to Colorado (for training camp and the restart). It's pretty cool to see all of the great players that they have in the organization and a lot of them I happen to know. It's special to now be a part of that."
The province of Nova Scotia has been on the rise in turning out NHL-caliber prospects in recent years, and Barron is proof of that.
"It is really special. Sometimes the Maritimes get overlooked with hockey and prospects, but the past few years we've really shown that we have a ton of great players from around here," Barron said. "I think the hockey down here has really come up, and it's only getting better."

With a Nov. 15, 2001 birthday, Barron is one of the older players of his draft class and is now preparing for his fourth season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with his hometown team. He led all defensemen on the Mooseheads in scoring in 2019-20 with 19 points (four goals and 15 assist) despite being limited to 34 games because of injury.
His first year in the Q saw him be named to the league's All-Rookie Team in 2017-18 after registering two goals and 19 assists in 51 regular-season contests and three helpers in nine playoff outings. He followed up that strong first campaign with a better second season as he posted a career-high 41 points (nine goals, 32 assists) in 68 games. In the 2019 QMJHL postseason, he produced two goals and 11 assists in 23 outings, but Halifax fell to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in six games in the President's Cup Final.
The Mooseheads' season wasn't quite done however as they hosted the Canadian Hockey League Memorial Cup and made it to the championship game, but they once again fell to the league-rival Huskies.
The team was never given the chance for redemption last season as the campaign was ultimately cancelled late in the year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Barron aims to have another long playoff run this year with the squad and raise the trophy in the end, preferably multiple ones.
"I think just moving forward this year with Halifax, I think we have a really good team," Barron said. "I know for me I want to be a big player on that team and play a big role. Honestly, just work on all aspects of my game and hopefully dominate a little bit more. I know for me to get so close to the President's Cup and Memorial Cup two years ago, it's definitely been a goal of mine to get back there. I'm definitely hungry and eager to hopefully get there and achieve that."

The QMJHL just began the 2020-21 regular season this past weekend, but Barron's campaign will be delayed for a few more weeks as he ramps up his conditioning after having offseason surgery to fix an issue that caused a blood clot.
It was a medical procedure that the Avalanche was fully aware of prior to drafting him and has no concerns on if it could affect his future play or development.
"He got a clean bill of health from the doctors, so no issue there," Sakic said. "It's the same sort of stuff that a couple players in the National Hockey League have had, and they have no problem after the procedure. We were very confident in that."
Barron called it the first big injury that gave him some adversity in his hockey career, and it came at a tough time for a young player in his first year of draft eligibility.
His mentality was to get through it, put himself back into a position to play and trust that his prior showings were enough to help get him drafted early in 2020.
He did just that.
"I just think it is important to keep working, know that you're going to recover, there are brighter days ahead," Barron said. "I think being here in Halifax and with the Mooseheads and with my family and just having good people around me, that made it even easier for me. I'm really thankful for them."