Don Barber was a standout at Bowling Green State University in the CCHA, overcoming a knee injury he sustained early in the season in 1987. He was drafted 120th overall in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers, even before he played a single game at Bowling Green, and his scoring abilities were confirmed during his college years. However, even while he was at college, he was part of a big trade with Marc Habscheid and Emanuel Viveiros to the Minnesota North Stars for Gord Sherven and Don Biggs. Therefore it was as a North Star, in 1988-89, that he first saw NHL actions.