The trade<\/p>\n
Chicago Blackhawks receive: Defenseman Bowen Byram and forward Jordan Greenway<\/p>\n
Buffalo Sabres receive: Picks No. 4 and No. 45 in the 2026 NHL Draft and defenseman Louis Crevier<\/p>\n
Mark Lazerus: After the years of tanking, the years of waiting, the years of patiently developing, it was finally time for Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson to make his move.<\/p>\n
But, man, this wasn\u2019t it.<\/p>\n
In a vacuum, acquiring Byram is a win for the Blackhawks. He\u2019s a dynamic young offensive talent whom Chicago strongly considered drafting way back in 2019, and at just 25 years old, he fits the team\u2019s timeline. That he\u2019s another shaky defender is a little concerning, but Byram wants a crack at being a No. 1, and in Chicago, with Sam Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov still early in their learning curves, he\u2019ll get that. In fact, he can probably do some real damage quarterbacking a power play with Connor Bedard moving back to the half-wall. He\u2019s a fun fit.<\/p>\n
But this isn\u2019t a vacuum. Davidson simply had to get Bedard a legitimate winger. Not a projected third-liner in Ryan Greene, not a wildly inconsistent castoff in Andr\u00e9 Burakovsky, not a journeyman in Ryan Donato, not an out-of-his-league bottom-sixer like Phil Kurashev. A true game-breaking winger. With the No. 4 pick, Davidson needed to get that winger come hell or high water \u2014 either through the draft itself, or, if San Jose wouldn\u2019t budge at No. 2 and insisted on taking Ivar Stenberg, then through a trade. To use that incredibly valuable pick \u2014 AND a second-round pick, AND one of Jeff Blashill\u2019s few reliable defenders in Crevier \u2014 to instead acquire yet another offense-first defenseman who struggles in his own end? And an oft-injured salary-dump in Greenway, to boot? It\u2019s legitimately shocking. Somewhere in Vancouver, Bedard must be screaming into a pillow.<\/p>\n
And if you\u2019re going to use the pick to get a defenseman, just pick a defenseman. If the draft goes the way the draftniks all expect, Chicago would have had its choice of every defenseman on the board \u2014 one, theoretically, with a higher ceiling than Byram. It wouldn\u2019t solve the Bedard issue, and it would push the team\u2019s timeline even further, but it would at least make sense. This doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n
As for Buffalo, what a coup from GM Jarmo Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen. Not only does he free up the money needed to potentially re-sign Alex Tuch, the top free agent on the market, but he gets to potentially draft the next great young Sabres defenseman \u2014 or, more likely, flip the pick for someone already NHL-ready. Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen must have been running to the phone to make this trade call.<\/p>\n
None of this is meant to demean Byram, who\u2019ll likely now face extra scrutiny from a fanbase that\u2019s surely perplexed by this move, especially once the Blackhawks extend his contract, possibly to the $10 million range. He\u2019s a good young player who very well might run with this opportunity in Chicago. And the thought of having Byram long-term on a back end with Levshunov, Rinzel, Wyatt Kaiser, Alex Vlasic and Kevin Korchinski is surely appealing. The player isn\u2019t the problem. The cost is.<\/p>\n
Even if there\u2019s more to come, even if Davidson is playing 4D chess and is planning to move other picks (he\u2019s got three first-rounders next year) or other young players to land that winger Bedard so desperately needs \u2014 and deserves \u2014 it doesn\u2019t make this a value trade. Even if Jason Robertson were to walk through that door, this is poor asset management and a squandered opportunity.<\/p>\n
Sabres grade: A
Blackhawks grade: D+<\/p>\n
Shayna Goldman: This is an absolute masterclass by the Sabres front office.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that Byram isn\u2019t a good player; he is legitimately talented offensively and still has potential to level up \u2014 maybe to the heights of a Brandon Montour at his peak, Vince Dunn or Josh Morrissey. The tools are there, he just never had the chance to be The Guy because of Cale Makar in Colorado and Rasmus Dahlin in Buffalo. But whether those tools can come together to be a true No. 1 is still a question. It\u2019s possible he\u2019s better suited in a top-four role.<\/p>\n
A team was always going to have to take a leap to find that out. But trying to do that on a team as unstructured and chaotic as Chicago has been is a massive gamble.<\/p>\n
Sure, the idea of Byram and Connor Bedard cooking together offensively is fun. But it doesn\u2019t change how risky this trade is, even in a vacuum before getting into the dollar and cents of Byram\u2019s next contract or the cost of acquisition. And that cost of acquisition is a huge part of the conversation, because the Blackhawks could have just drafted a franchise defenseman with the No. 4 pick in this trade.<\/p>\n
The draft-and-develop process obviously hasn\u2019t always worked in Chicago\u2019s favor. Levshunov, Rinzel and Korchinski all have had their ups and downs over the last couple of seasons, so maybe there was some worry that picking a defenseman would just add more twists and turns to the Blackhawks\u2019 rebuild. If that\u2019s the case, the team should be focused on tweaking its scouting and developmental pipeline instead of throwing this pick away in an unbalanced deal.<\/p>\n
The No. 4 pick shouldn\u2019t have been untouchable. But it\u2019s so rare for picks of that caliber to be moved in this league; it should be reserved for game-changing talent, and there\u2019s too much on uncertainty on whether Byram can become that. It\u2019s made worse by the Blackhawks taking on Greenway\u2019s salary, losing another draft pick and Crevier in the process. Now add in the fact that Byram\u2019s probably a year away from making $10 million-plus. It makes this all the more asinine from Chicago\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
From the Sabres\u2019 perspective, Byram was expendable \u2014 not because of his skill, but because the team has so many lefties locked down long-term already. Byram\u2019s next contract was never going to make sense in Buffalo. That context seemed pretty obvious; if anything, it could have suppressed Byram\u2019s trade value.<\/p>\n
Instead, it somehow nets this team an incredibly valuable draft pick that can either be flipped again or used to bring in another future needle-mover. With Greenway\u2019s $4 million off the books, Buffalo has more cap space to do further damage this summer. And it opens up a roster spot for some of its up-and-coming talent that has earned mainstay roles.<\/p>\n
This is truly a slam dunk for the Sabres, and it\u2019s really encouraging after a fairly questionable first deadline under Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen. The only question now is what Buffalo does next. Maybe this deal feels incomplete because that\u2019s a big part of the equation, but the fact that this team just opened up so many possibilities is both fascinating and exciting.<\/p>\n
Sabres grade: A
Blackhawks grade: D<\/p>\n
Top 5 prospects after the NHL Draft Combine<\/p>\n
Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler and more<\/p>\n
Dom Luszczyszyn: For many rebuilds there\u2019s often an inflection point that decides whether it succeeds or fails.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it\u2019s the wrong draft pick, like choosing Adam Boqvist over Evan Bouchard. Sometimes it\u2019s the wrong trade, like moving the seventh pick (and two others) for Alex DeBrincat.<\/p>\n
For Chicago, it\u2019s starting to feel like a cascade of baffling decisions barreling to nowhereville. To say a gross overpayment to acquire Bowen Byram is the inflection point ignores that there\u2019s nowhere to inflect; it\u2019s a growing trend of inexplicably bad decision-making.<\/p>\n
That all starts with the old adage that teams should build from the net out. This is now the third top-10 pick the Blackhawks will use on a defenseman hoping to find their No. 1 of the future, and so far it\u2019s not going great. Kevin Korchinski (No. 7 in 2022) looks like a bust and Artyom Levshunov (No. 2 in 2024) has been historically bad defensively to start his career. There\u2019s still time for Levshunov, but it\u2019s not an ideal way to start an NHL career if the hope is for a No. 1 defenseman ceiling.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s up to Byram, who has been vocal about his desire to be The Guy after being blocked by both Cale Makar and Rasmus Dahlin during his seven-year career. Byram seemingly has all the tools to be just that and the absolute best-case scenario is that he blossoms into the player he\u2019s envisioned himself becoming since he was drafted fourth in 2019.<\/p>\n
There are several problems with that, though.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the real possibility that Byram simply isn\u2019t that guy and may be a particularly bad fit for a still-green Blackhawks team. Right now he\u2019s a solid No. 3 who adds a decent amount of offense but gives a lot back defensively. Byram can thrive in structure and is great with the puck up-ice, but within the chaos of Chicago\u2019s system, there\u2019s a real chance he simply doesn\u2019t move the needle as expected.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the concern with age, where 25 isn\u2019t exactly a prime spot for the type of explosive growth needed for Byram to become a true No. 1. That Byram\u2019s age also doesn\u2019t quite line up with Chicago\u2019s timeline is a whole other story on top, especially given the wealth of defensemen that would\u2019ve been available at No. 4. The Blackhawks are in no position to be making a move like this.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the sunk cost of picks already spent trying to find The Guy \u2014 picks that weren\u2019t used for help up front for Bedard. Levshunov over Ivan Demidov already felt like a misstep at the time; it may be an all-time blunder now. And the cherry on top is the contract Byram likely commands after the Blackhawks already spent so much just to acquire him.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s just so much that doesn\u2019t make sense with the way Chicago is approaching this rebuild, and the Byram blockbuster may be the defining moment of a franchise that simply doesn\u2019t get it. Byram is a good player, better than often given credit for. But Chicago paid an exorbitant price for what he currently is.<\/p>\n
Good on Buffalo for taking advantage: the average No. 4 pick is worth 9.3 wins over their first seven seasons. To date, Byram\u2019s been worth just 3.3, meaning the odds of that pick alone being more valuable than Byram are reasonably high. That the Sabres somehow commanded more (a mid-second and Crevier) and got to dump\u00a0 Greenway\u2019s contract on top of that is absolutely ludicrous.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t know where Chicago\u2019s rebuild will lead, but in the strong likelihood it fails, this may be the day that decided it.<\/p>\n
Sabres grade: A+
Blackhawks grade: D-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trade Chicago Blackhawks receive: Defenseman Bowen Byram and forward Jordan Greenway Buffalo Sabres receive: Picks No. 4…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1809,4824,385,99],"class_list":["post-722474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}