Grading the Bowen Byram trade: Sabres cash in on Blackhawks’ costly gamble
I loathe personal anecdotes in sports journalism, but here’s one: I just submitted my Trade Grade for the big Jordan Kyrou deal to my editor, only for him to ask if I’d like to tackle the Byram deal as well. The what?
It’s been that kind of Tuesday, and I sure hope none of my colleagues had a trade board saved in the site’s drafts. Four players who had long been at the center of trade speculation need worry no longer, if only because they’ve already been traded: Simon Nemec (NJD to CGY), William Eklund (SJ to OTT), Jordan Kyrou (STL to WAS) and, now, Byram.
The smooth-skating lefty is off to the defensively challenged Chicago Blackhawks, who sent the Buffalo Sabres a truly shocking package including the fourth-overall selection in this Friday’s NHL Entry Draft in exchange for his services.
Now, it’s time to break down not if the Blackhawks outbid themselves, but how badly. This has all the makings of an all-fleece, one that is worthy of a late-night Daily Faceoff Trade Grade.
Buffalo Sabres
Receive:
No. 4 overall selection in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft
No. 45 overall selection in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft
D Louis Crevier, 25 – $900,000 cap hit through 2027
Even by the cranky standards of old-school hockey guys, Sabres’ GM Jarmo Kekalainen is an intense man. And yet, you’d have to imagine he’s grinning like the Cheshire Cat and floating on air somewhere in Western New York, aware that he’s just played another front office like a fiddle.
It’s not that Kekalainen would have regarded Byram as a negative asset, or even as an inadequate top-four option. On a roving pair with fellow former top prospect Owen Power, Byram tormented the Boston Bruins to help Buffalo win its first series in 19 years. That alone would have forced Kekalainen to take Byram, who comes eligible for an extension on July 1, seriously at the negotiating table.
Not seriously enough to pay him near the rate captain Rasmus Dahlin, a far superior defenseman, commands ($11-million AAV). That seems to have been the ask from Byram’s camp, led by agent Darren Ferris, who prefers his clients to hit unrestricted free agency if he can help it. Faced with the unpleasant choice of overpaying Byram or losing him for nothing, Kekalainen took the third door and sought to recoup value for the mercurial puckmover on the trade market.
He couldn’t have expected value like this. When the Sabres use the fourth pick, it is now likely that Chase Reid, the sort of righty they desperately need on the blue line, will be available. Daily Faceoff prospect maven Steven Ellis ranks Reid as the third player in the class, writing that he “plays with as much confidence as any defender you’ll find … Reid’s name has been mentioned by a few scouts as a legitimate No. 1 pick thanks to his outstanding puck skills and competitive nature.”
A guy like that for a talented but incomplete defenseman in his walk year? Advantage Buffalo, and fairly clearly. But the real shocker here is that the Sabres coaxed sweeteners from the Hawks, including the latter’s willingness to eat the final year of oft-injured grinder Jordan Greenway’s inflated contract to save them nearly $10 million against the cap including Byram’s salary.
The 45th pick is essentially meaningless to a team that has been rebuilding for as long as the Blackhawks have. Their pipeline is that loaded. It nonetheless represents additional draft ammo for the Sabres, who don’t plan to own lottery picks for the foreseeable future after a division-winning season and will need to find value where they can.
Then there’s Crevier, a 6’8 hidden gem (7th-round pick in 2020) who took huge strides (no pun intended) on an otherwise ghastly Chicago blue line. In his first full season (78 GP, 17:08 ATOI), Crevier managed a minor miracle of a rating (-2 on a -64 team) in tough minutes with Alex Vlasic and was a key cog on a surprisingly capable penalty kill.
His possession metrics were predictably ugly on a very poor team, but the big man looked like someone who, at age 25, is growing into his once-in-a-lifetime tools; Crevier took the fourth-hardest shot of the regular season and can skate like the wind (94th percentile in top speed among defensemen).
If this is all Crevier ever is, he’s still a toolsy behemoth of a righty who can soak up tough D-zone starts, which we know Kekalainen coveted from his near trade for Colton Parayko. The Sabres needed that sort of player to balance out their predominantly left-shot defense corps. With 23 even-strength points, though, Crevier was not irrelevant on offense, and he’s working on adding some meanness to his game. If he becomes a real top-four option in that body, I’ll come back and add another plus sign.
Grade: A+
Chicago Blackhawks
Receive:
D Bowen Byram, 25 – $6.25 cap hit through 2027
LW Jordan Greenway, 29 – $4 cap hit through 2027
There are few feelings in sports as surreal as watching a football kicker miss for the third time in a close loss and the melancholy realization he’ll be out of a job on Monday that follows. It won’t happen tomorrow, but I’m fairly certain we just watched Blackhawks’ GM Kyle Davidson lose his job.
I’m not grading Chicago’s intent. The reasoning behind trading futures, even incredibly valuable ones, for a good, experienced player at this stage in what has become a never-ending rebuild is sound. The Blackhawks already have too many promising players to fit in their lineup. Some of them are stalling out due to a combination of that overcrowding and the dreadful on-ice environment that has served as their baptism by fire.
I’m grading the trade they made for the player they got, and it wasn’t a good one. Byram debuted in the NHL over five years ago. He has never controlled a majority of high-danger chances at five-on-five in a season, has rarely been deployed on a top pair, and has never quarterbacked a power play (five career PPP).
Some of those factors, like his lack of power-play reps on teams with Dahlin and Cale Makar, are beyond his control. He is a legitimate offensive threat at even strength thanks to his accurate wrister (career 10.4 S%), his ability to walk the puck down from the blue line, and his opportunism on the rush. What he is not is a reliable, top-pairing guy.
It feels like clubs (at least one of them) still view Byram as the fearless kid who burst onto the scene with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022, played with nastiness uncommon for his slight frame, and led a Stanley Cup winner and the field in playoff rating (+15).
Though he has become a consistent offensive contributor in Buffalo (40 P per season, 0 games missed since 2024), the persistent injuries Byram suffered through during the early part of his career kept him from developing into the tantalizing player those playoffs suggested he might become.
Instead, Byram is what he is, a rover whose fluid approach to positioning creates chaos for the opposition and his teammates alike. He played in the postseason like his hair was on fire, leading the Sabres in xGA during both of their playoff series while somehow contributing to even more xGF. Against Boston, he was the hero (3 G, 5 P, +6 in 6 GP). Against the Montreal Canadiens, he was a mess (1 G, 2 P, -6 in 7 GP).
There are uses for Byram’s skill set, to be sure. His point production could explode if he can click with sharpshooting wunderkid Connor Bedard on the man advantage. Still, nothing about that give-and-take skill set suggests that Byram is going to land in the hot LZ that is Chicago’s disjointed defense corps and fix anything.
Davidson needed someone to alleviate the immense pressure on talented but overmatched kids like Alex Vlasic, Sam Rinzel, and Artyom Levshuvnov. He got Byram, who will probably log 65 points and a -25 rating every season, because he was the biggest blue-line name on the trade market.
Now he gets to pay Byram, who has an unholy amount of leverage over a team that just took on salary, jettisoned Crevier and a second, and gave away a golden ticket to a top defensive prospect just for the chance to pay him. Sounds expensive.
Maybe the defenseman Davidson actually needed for everything to snap into place for the Blackhawks’ blue line was out there, and he neglected to call on him. Maybe he wasn’t, and Davidson pivoted to the next best thing. Either way, this is his Alamo. Or perhaps it’s his Seth Jones.
Grade: F