At this point, the small chance that he becomes a top 4 D doesn’t matter. He’s not good enough to be on the roster full time, and we’ve seen enough that he shouldn’t be taking up a roster spot over younger more promising prospects.
And we’re deep enough at RD that a guy like Barron shouldn’t be blocking better prospects from getting playing time, here or in Laval. If you’re worried about trading a young D before knowing what we have, then the risk is greater in trading away other RD prospects. Like I said, we’ve had a good long look at Barron, and he hasn’t been able to stick even on the bottom pairing on a lottery team. I think it’s time to move on.
At RD we’ve got:
Savard
Kovacevic
Reinbacher
Mailloux
Konyushkov
Where do you feel he fits in here? He’s not good enough currently to play over Savard or Kovacevic, and he hasn’t shown enough to have his development prioritized over any of Reinbacher, Mailloux, or even Konyushkov if he was to come over. He’s just the odd man out here; it’s not about wanting to trade him or whether he eventually gets it together. It’s about playing the odds, managing roster spots, and prioritizing the development of younger more promising prospects.