The Chicago Blackhawks managed to turn one player into two separate NHL stunners, and Bowen Byram sits at the center of both.
First came the trade: Chicago sent the fourth-overall and 45th-overall picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, along with defenseman Louis Crevier, to the Buffalo Sabres for Byram. Then came the extension, which pushed Byram to the top of the defenseman pay scale in the NHL.
There’s a case to be made that the contract was always coming once the Blackhawks paid that price to get him, especially with Chicago’s salary situation hanging over everything. But it’s still a massive bet on a blue-liner who has cleared 40 points only once in his career.
The good news for Chicago is that the number may not look quite as jarring for long.
A summer from now, two of the league’s premier defensemen are set for major extensions: Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes. Both are expected to ask for more than Byram, and both teams - the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild - will be under pressure to keep their stars in place. Bill Guerin, in particular, could face more pressure than any other general manager in the NHL when it comes to holding his core together.
That’s the part that could eventually make Byram’s deal easier to swallow. The cap keeps climbing, and the market for elite defensemen keeps rising with it.
Even so, this still looks like one of Kyle Davidson’s roughest moves as Blackhawks general manager. Chicago does need to get to the salary floor, but the club is still a long way from a Connor Bedard extension and has several other players heading toward paydays after this offseason. Next year, Ryan Greene, Oliver Moore, Landon Slaggert, Wyatt Kaiser, Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel are all due for a big pay raise.
None of them will cost what Byram does, but that’s exactly how these situations can start to squeeze a team. One contract at a time, the pressure builds.
If Byram plays like a star and gives Chicago star-level value, the deal will look a lot better. But that’s a big if, and a lot has to go right for that to happen.
In Other News...
New Blackhawks Addition Just Weighed In On Chicago's Rebuild
Cole Smith is already sounding like a player who understands why Chicago wanted him. In his first public comments since signing a three-year deal on July 1, the veteran forward said he likes where the Blackhawks are headed and praised the way the front office handled the process, adding that the organization made him feel appreciated from the start.
For a team still trying to turn the corner in its rebuild, that kind of buy-in matters as much as any depth addition. Smith also said he is looking forward to meeting Connor Bedard, and his optimism about the groups direction fits the broader feeling around Chicago that the next step is no longer just about patience, but about finally starting to win again. [Read more 🡒]
Matt Grzelcyk Put Blackhawks Fans In A Familiar Blue Line Debate
Matt Grzelcyks first season in Chicago gave the Blackhawks exactly the kind of blue-line conversation they knew they were signing up for. After arriving on a one-year deal following a preseason PTO, he settled in as a third-pairing defenseman and brought a steady veteran presence to a young group, appearing in 69 games before an injury cut his year short.
The numbers were modest, with 12 assists, no goals and a minus-6 rating, and now the bigger question is what comes next. Grzelcyk is set to hit free agency, and while he should draw interest elsewhere, Chicago appears unlikely to bring him back, leaving another familiar opening on the back end for the Blackhawks to sort out. [Read more 🡒]
Kyle Davidson's Quiet Summer Just Put Blackhawks Fans On Edge
Kyle Davidsons summer roster work was never going to be about headlines, and in that sense the Blackhawks stayed true to form. Chicago added six players in free agency and through trade, with the bulk of the activity aimed at shoring up the blue line and stocking the organization with more defensive depth for both the NHL club and the Rockford IceHogs. Ian Cole, Dylan Anhorn, Connor Mackey, Cole Smith and Connor Mylymok all fit that theme, giving the Blackhawks a deeper pool of options as they try to keep building out the back end.
The move that really changes the temperature, though, is the arrival of Bowen Byram, who came over in a trade and immediately became the most meaningful addition of the group. Even with that kind of upgrade, the broader reaction around the team is easy to understand: Chicago did real work, but it still feels like the sort of summer that leaves fans wondering whether the front office had bigger swings in mind and simply found the market too expensive, too thin or too hard to sell. [Read more 🡒]