from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

If you missed it, Cam Barker has signed a PTO (professional tryout offer) deal with the AHL’s Texas Stars, the farm club of the Dallas Stars, which means he’s gainfully employed but on a short leash and making chump change next to the $2.25 million he pulled down last year as an Edmonton Oilers defenceman....

He is 26 years old, hardly doddering, but he has been with the Blackhawks’ organization, Minnesota, Edmonton and now with Dallas. Unless he reinvents himself with the Texas Stars–gets quicker feet, provides more offensive pop, uses his frame (6’3″, 215 pounds) more aggressively–his North American career may be on life support.

Barker is a cautionary tale for all scouts. He looked good in junior (65 points in 69 games in his draft year), but it’s never really translated to the NHL game. He was the third player taken in the 2004 draft, behind Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.

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