Bowen Byram says leaving Buffalo came down to wanting a bigger challenge.
The former Sabres defenseman, now with the Chicago Blackhawks, talked about his exit from Western New York on Tuesday during an appearance on the What Chaos! hockey show. Buffalo general manager Jarmo Kekalainen had opened the 2026 NHL offseason by saying he hoped to sign Byram to an extension, but the situation moved in a different direction and the Sabres traded him to Chicago.
“I definitely have a lot of confidence in myself, or else I wouldn't have wanted to leave Buffalo. Buffalo's a great place to play.
You know, I have a lot of tight buddies there. We had a great up-and-coming team but I knew that I wanted more and I wanted a challenge for myself.
So yeah, super excited I ended up here [in Chicago]."
Chicago made the move with a clear purpose, believing the 25-year-old blueliner could grow into a No. 1 defenseman. The Blackhawks then backed that belief with a six-year, $75 million extension, worth $12.5 million annually, that begins next season.
Byram’s arrival has already produced one eye-catching moment. He scored a hat trick in his preseason debut with the Western Conference club. The regular season has been quieter so far, though, with no points in three games and a minus-three rating.
It’s still too early to read too much into that start, especially with Chicago struggling and Connor Bedard sidelined by a shoulder injury. Even so, the adjustment is real for Byram, who is now being asked to handle the top spot on the blue line after years in more secondary roles behind Cale Makar in Colorado and Rasmus Dahlin in Buffalo.
The 6-foot-1 Canadian brings a lot in transition, with his skating standing out immediately. He also comes off a career-high 42 points last season for Buffalo, finishing with 11 goals and 31 assists. The part of the game that has been less consistent over time is his work in the defensive zone, and that’s where the next test will come as he faces top lines on a regular basis.
He has already missed one chance to face his old team this season, and for a pretty important reason: his wife, Kailey, gave birth to twin girls that day, which kept him out of the Hawks’ visit to Buffalo. That leaves Nov. 12 as the only scheduled meeting between the teams, when the Sabres come to the United Center.
Back in Buffalo, the Sabres have chosen not to replace Byram with one player. They got Louis Crevier in the deal with Chicago and used another piece from that trade, the No. 45 pick in the 2026 draft, in a swap with the Anaheim Ducks for Olen Zellweger.
That has pushed Lindy Ruff into constant tinkering on the back end. Dahlin has mostly been paired with Mattias Samuelsson, as he was for much of the 2025-26 season, while Owen Power looked strong in that role when Buffalo was trailing the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. Zellweger has gotten time with Power on the second pair, and Crevier should keep getting looks there too, especially in more defensive situations.
Zach Metsa and Matt Grzelcyk are also in the mix while Conor Timmins works back from a lower-body injury. Rather than settle on three fixed pairings, Ruff has been making changes on the fly depending on the score and the situation.
The early returns haven’t been clean - Buffalo has allowed 11 goals in three games - but for now, that’s the hand the Sabres are playing.
And it all feeds back into the larger offseason discussion in Buffalo. Moving on from Byram and winger Alex Tuch made some sense based on the circumstances, but the lack of major additions to replace them left real questions about whether the Sabres might take a step backward this season.
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