Quoting: Bolts20Cup
Really bad assumption
Nope, Barre-Boulet is not a grinder 3rd line/4th line type with a really good 2 way game. He has good awareness in the offensive zone and as previously mentioned, a good shot. Like Marchessault and Verhaeghe before him, if Tampa wants him to do little with the team and then watch him flourish elsewhere, great, keep him locked up in the bottom 6. Even with signing a 3 year deal, there's a reason he was put in the top 6 last year, as that's where he will be best utilized. It's also not like the Killorn-Cirelli-Stamkos line has been that effective for long stretches at times either. Additionally, Tampa will likely be losing at least one of Palat or Killorn in the next 1-2 years, so giving ABB(and possibly others) a larger role in the top 6 will give the team better knowledge who should be the long term replacement. Moving a vet like Killorn to the 3rd with Colton also spreads out the talent and doesn't make Tampa a 2 line team with weaker depth in the bottom 6.
Cirelli had his struggles for a great deal of last season, so giving him a new wing may not be the worst idea either. Killorn usually steps up big in the playoffs but he's not some gamebreaker that has to be in the top 6. If keeping him with Cirelli is paramount, then play them both on the "3rd line" with Joseph/Raddysh/Katchouk and then have a more offensive oriented line of ABB-Colton-Stamkos. Cirelli was at his best when he could.be more of the 2 way, less offensive reliant C anyway, so keep him with Killorn in that role.
In any case, giving Barre-Boulet little ice time and expecting him to be helpful to the team as some 3rd line 2 way type is wasting his talents. For Raddysh or Katchouk, thos role could work well, but not ABB. I'm sure they won't though, and when ABB doesn't put up great numbers while being horribly deployed, it'll just be indicative of a bad coaching decision rather than ABB not being good enough. Maybe ABB doesn't have what it takes, despite all numbers at previous levels saying otherwise, but there's only one way to find out. After the team made the same mistake with Marchessault and it certainly looks like Verhaeghe, maybe the third time will be the charm(or perhaps it will be the 3rd strike in this regard).