The Chicago Blackhawks made Bowen Byram the centerpiece of their offseason, and they paid like they believe he can become much more than just a good defenseman. The price was steep: the fourth overall pick and defenseman Louis Crevier went to Buffalo in the deal, and Chicago followed that up with a six-year contract that currently makes Byram the NHL’s highest-paid defenseman when it begins in 2027-28.
That kind of investment only comes with one expectation. The Blackhawks aren’t asking Byram to be a nice addition. They’re betting he can grow into a top-pairing force and maybe even a true No. 1 on the blue line.
General manager Kyle Davidson made that clear when he explained why Chicago went after him. "We're going to be able to provide the opportunity to become one of the top defensemen around the league, and we feel 100 percent and wholeheartedly that he can be that guy, and he will be that guy. And so, when you take it like that, a top pairing defenseman, and we feel a potential number one defenseman, that there's not many pieces around the league that are more valuable than that."
Byram enters Chicago with a résumé that fits the billing. He was the fourth overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, the same draft where many thought he should have been the Blackhawks’ selection at No.
- Since then, he has shown he can be useful to winning teams, first with Colorado, where he won a Stanley Cup, and later in Buffalo.
Last season, Byram logged 21:19 of ice time per game over an 82-game pace, ranked 27th among NHL defensemen in scoring, and finished second on the Sabres’ blue line behind Rasmus Dahlin’s 74 points. Those are the kind of numbers that make a front office lean in. They don’t tell the whole story, but they point to a player who can handle real responsibility.
The bigger question is whether Chicago is finally giving him the runway he never fully had before. In Colorado, he was behind Cale Makar.
In Buffalo, he played in Dahlin’s shadow. Now the Blackhawks are asking him to step into the spotlight and drive a defense that needs help in a hurry.
Byram says he’s ready for it. After the trade, he talked about the progress he made last season in Buffalo and the ceiling he still sees for himself.
"On the hockey side... or the on-ice side... I kind of felt like things started to click for me on both sides of the puck.
Not only offensively but defensively. But I just think I'm just scratching the surface of what I can do, as well.
I'm confident in myself, like I said, and I'm really excited for this opportunity because I think it's going to be a chance for me to really blossom into the player I think I can be."
He also pointed to the power play as an area where he expects to keep growing. "I feel like over the last year, or so, I've had a little bit more of an opportunity on the power play in Buffalo. Nothing crazy, but it's something that I'm going to continue to work on and try to help the Hawks' power play grow and develop into one of the best in the NHL."
That matters because Chicago’s special teams and scoring numbers were rough. The Blackhawks were fourth-worst in the league on the power play at 16.9 percent, sixth-worst in goals against per game at 3.29, and third-worst in goals per game at 2.56. Byram doesn’t have to solve everything by himself, but he was brought in to help move those numbers in the right direction.
He knows the pressure is part of the package. When he talked about the extension, he didn’t shy away from what Chicago has handed him.
"Yeah, I think it's pretty special. I feel like I've touched on it prior to this, but they've (shown) a lot of faith in me, and they've given up a lot and committed to me in many, many ways.
So, now the ball's in my court to perform. So, I'm excited for that opportunity.
I'm excited for that challenge. But yeah, it means the world."
For the Blackhawks, that’s the entire bet: that Byram’s upside, experience, and two-way game are worth the draft pick, the roster piece, and the massive contract. Now it’s on him to prove they were right.
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For a Chicago team still shaping its core, that kind of move would mark a meaningful shift in strategy and a bet that the next step comes faster through the trade market than the draft. The Blackhawks have three 2027 first-round picks at their disposal, and the question now is not whether they can afford to spend them, but how much of that future capital they are willing to convert into present-day impact. Around the hockey world, other roster moves also kept the transaction wire active, with Linus Oberg heading to Kiekko-Espoo and Igor Ozhiganov extending with Dynamo Moscow. [Read more 🡒]
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For a fan base that has lived through years of turnover, any sign of steadiness from the top matters. Davidsons comments arrived amid a busy stretch around hockey, with the Red Wings still looking for a new general manager, Simon Despres landing with the Fort Wayne Komets and Kelly Hrudeys run at Sportsnet ending after 28 years, but the Blackhawks piece is the one that will resonate most in Chicago because it points back to the future the franchise is trying to build. [Read more 🡒]