Barnes was never the high-scoring forward in the NHL that he'd been in juniors, but he played 16 seasons in the League as a solid role player who could contribute offensively and made two trips to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Winnipeg Jets selected Barnes with the No. 4 pick in the 1989 NHL Draft after he scored 59 goals and 141 points for Tri-City during his second season in the Western Hockey League. Barnes went back to the WHL in 1989-90 and had an even better season -- 144 points (52 goals, 92 assists). He played for Canada's national team in 1990-91 before making his NHL debut with the Jets against the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 4, 1991. Barnes had his first NHL point, an assist, six days later against the San Jose Sharks and scored his first two NHL goals against the Washington Capitals on Oct. 27.

But Barnes bounced back and forth between the Jets and their American Hockey League affiliate in Moncton for his first two pro seasons, and it wasn't until he was traded to the Florida Panthers on Nov. 25, 1993, that he began to blossom. He scored 18 goals in 59 games for Florida after the trade, and helped the Panthers advance to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final with 19 goals and 44 points during the regular season and 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 22 playoff games.

Barnes' offensive game took another step forward after he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 19, 1996. He had NHL career highs in goals (30) and points (65) in 1997-98 and scored 20 goals in 64 games in 1998-99 before being traded to the Buffalo Sabres on March 11, 1999. Though Barnes didn't score a goal for Buffalo during the remainder of the regular season, he scored seven in 21 games during the 1999 playoffs, helping the Sabres reach the Cup Final for the first time since 1975.

The Sabres traded Barnes to the Dallas Stars on March 10, 2003, and he played four-plus seasons with Dallas before retiring in 2008 with 597 points (261 goals, 336 assists) in 1,136 NHL games, as well as 62 points (32 goals, 30 assists) in 116 playoff games.

After retiring, Barnes had two stints as an assistant with the Stars before joining the NHL expansion team in Seattle as a scout in September 2019. The rink in his hometown, Spruce Grove, Alberta, was renamed the Stu Barnes Arena in 2009.