Last week, the Colorado Avalanche and forward Mikhail Grigorenko were scheduled to have a salary arbitration hearing.  The meeting never happened, however, as the two sides were able to come to an agreement on a one-year deal.

This week, the Avalanche will turn their attention towards restricted free agent defenseman Tyson Barrie. The 25-year-old Barrie has an arbitration hearing scheduled for July 29.

As we did with Grigorenko, we will now examine what the market value of Barrie might look like. To do this, we will look at five recently-signed contracts of comparable players.

Last season, Barrie scored 13 goals, 49 points and had a minus-16 rating in 78 games. He is known as a puck-moving offensive defenseman, who is an elite skater and has an accurate wrist shot. Here are some defenseman that are similar to Barrie, with skillset, age, experience, size and production all having been considered, and their contracts:

1. Keith Yandle

Team: Florida Panthers Age: 29 2015-2016 stats: G: 5 A: 42 P: 47 +/-: -4

First season of deal: 2016-2017 Term: 7 years

Average annual value:  $6.35 million

2. Dougie Hamilton

Team: Calgary Flames Age: 23 2014-2015 stats: G: 10 A: 32 P: 42 +/-: -3

First season of deal: 2015-2016 Term: 6 years

Average annual value:  $5.75 million

3. Torey Krug

Team: Boston Bruins Age: 25 2015-2016 stats: G: 4 A: 40 P: 44 +/-: 9

First season of deal: 2016-2017 Term: 3 years

Average annual value:  $5.25 million

4. Sami Vatanen

Team: Anaheim Ducks Age: 25 2015-2016 stats: G: 9 A: 29 P: 38 +/-: 8

First season of deal: 2016-2017 Term: 4 years

Average annual value:  $4.875 million

5. John Klingberg

Team: Anaheim Ducks Age: 23 2014-2015 stats: G: 11 A: 29 P: 40 +/-: 5

First season of deal: 2015-2016 Term: 7 years

Average annual value:  $4.25 million

These five player’s deals have all been signed since the beginning of the 2015 offseason, and range between $4.25-6.35 million in average annual value.

For accuracy’s sake, we will assume one team overpaid and one underpaid, and throw out the highest and lowest value. The average of the three remaining deals is $5.292 million per season.

Locking up Barrie for that number would likely work for the Avalanche. Barrie’s representatives would likely point out the extension that just kicked in for fellow Avalanche blueliner Erik Johnson ($6 million/year) and perhaps even the one that will kick in next summer for Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad ($7.5 million). Putting those two deals into the equation would raise the average to $5.875 million per season.

Barrie’s representatives might insist that he receive at least as much as Johnson in a deal.  That $6 million deal would probably be the max I would consider for Barrie, if I were the Avalanche, though it might be a slight overpayment. An appropriate range for Barrie would be between $5.292-5.875 million per season.