The looming NHL Draft has kicked the trade market into its off-season form. Forwards Jason Robertson, Mason Marchment, and Martin Necas have headlined rumors so far. Now, the Buffalo Sabres could offer the top defenseman on the trade market, with NHL.com’s Kevin Weekes reporting that multiple teams are interested in acquiring former Stanley Cup champion Bowen Byram. The Sabres were said to be gauging Byram’s market interest following the end of the regular season, though the player’s agent walked back those reports a day later.
It seems Byram will have a market if Buffalo indeed tries to move him. He originally joined the Sabres at the 2024 Trade Deadline in a one-for-one swap that sent center Casey Mittelstadt to the Colorado Avalanche. Byram was in the midst of a stout year in Colorado, with 20 points in 55 games. He finished the year off with nine points, and strong all-around play, in 18 games with the Sabres. That performance earned Byram an everyday role in Buffalo’s top-four this season, often spent playing alongside fellow left-shot defender Rasmus Dahlin.
A full season in a top role naturally led Byram to a career-year. He recorded a career-high 31 assists and 38 points while playing in all 82 games of Buffalo’s season – one of only two Sabres to play in every game. His scoring ranked third on Buffalo’s blue line behind Dahlin (68 points) and 2022 first-overall pick Owen Power (40 points). The year was marred by hot-and-cold play and glaring question marks, but it nonetheless stood out as the first true statement performance for the former fourth-overall pick. Byram showed he could stand up well to a top role and even hold down the fort as his top-end linemates faced missed games.
Those facts will make the 23-year-old Byram hard to miss. He ranks 41st among active defensemen in career scoring before the age of 24 with 110 points in 246 games. That places him among company like Zach Bogosian (114 P in 352 GP) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (110 P in 389 GP) – though, on a per-game basis, Byram’s 0.45 P/GP rank 30th between Oliver Ekman-Larsson (0.45, 154 P in 340 GP) and Morgan Rielly (0.44, 171 P in 388 GP).
Signs seem to point towards Byram still sitting as a young defender with sky-high potential, even if he hasn’t found a permanent lineup role just yet. But that sentiment has rung true for many years, despite Byram’s hot-and-cold struggles continuing through a move across the league. In offering Byram in a trade, the Sabres will be banking on a solid year in a top role being enough to increase their return on 2024’s investment. Byram could make plenty of sense for a playoff contender looking to get younger without losing strength – or a young up-and-comer that misses out on top 2025 NHL Draft left-defense prospect Matthew Schaefer, like the San Jose Sharks or Chicago Blackhawks.
The cost of Byram on the open market will be a situation to monitor as the Sabres eye potentially changing their standing in the 2025 draft. They currently select at ninth overall, directly after the Seattle Kraken and before the Anaheim Ducks.