The Vancouver Canucks have announced that 14-year NHL veteran defenceman Tyson Barrie will be joining Canucks regional home broadcasts on Sportsnet for the 2025-26 NHL season.

“Growing up on Vancouver Island, I always thought it would be special to finish my career with the Canucks,” said Barrie. “While my playing days ended elsewhere, I’m grateful for the chance to start this new chapter with a great organization so close to home. I’ve always embraced the lighter side of the game, and I’m excited to bring years of insight and lots of laughs to the broadcast!”

For years, Canucks fans have been spoiled with their regional broadcasts. The trio of John Shorthouse, John Garrett, and Dan Murphy were beloved for years. Following Garrett’s departure from regional broadcasts after the 2022-23 season, Ray Ferraro and Dave Tomlinson stepped in to serve as the colour commentary voice on regional broadcasts. The likes of Satiar Shah, Dan Riccio, Iain MacIntyre, and, most recently, Landon Ferraro have joined Dan Murphy to keep fans entertained during the intermissions of regional broadcasts. Barrie will now be added to that mix of intermission analysts.

After officially announcing his retirement this offseason, Barrie wasted little time in showing off his sense of humour and off-ice personality. Barrie recently shared a story about him getting into game five of the Canucks’ first round playoff series against the Nashville Predators in 2023-24.

“In Nashville, I hadn’t played that last month and a half of the season, like not a game,” Barrie said on a recent episode of Spittin’ Chiclets. “Me and [Andrew Brunette], we went for a pint and he was like, ‘I’m sorry, I hate to be doing this, but it is what it is.’ I’m not even a thought for warm-ups… That’s how out of the lineup I am. I go for dinner with the boys at Elisa, and then I go meet some friends for a few beers after,” Barrie said of his evening in Vancouver before game five.

On game day, after not participating in line rushes at morning skate, Barrie said he went for lunch, where he “had a chardonnay, a pint, and a nice beef tartar” at Provence Marinaside in Yaletown.

“I get on the late bus, at six o’clock, to the rink. Then, our team service guy is like ‘Tys, come with me’. I’m like, ‘No… no, you’re [expletive] kidding me.’”

“We walked in, all the boys are half-dressed, like, warmup is in four minutes. I’ve had a chardonnay and a pint, and it’s an elimination game against the Vancouver Canucks. [Ryan O’Reilly], he looks at me and he’s like ‘you might be the only guy that could f*cking pull this one off.”

Barrie actually played quite well in that game, skating on a pairing with Ryan McDonagh and even adding an assist in what ended up being a 2-1 win for the Predators to stave off elimination. Barrie went back to the press box for game six, which the Canucks went on to win by a final score of 1-0.

Hopefully we get more funny stories from Barrie on broadcasts this season.