Bowen Byram didn’t leave Buffalo quietly, and he isn’t pretending otherwise.
The defenseman explained his decision to move on from the Sabres during an appearance Tuesday on the What Chaos! hockey show, making it clear the chance to chase a bigger role mattered to him.
"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]."
That move eventually led to Chicago giving the 25-year-old blueliner a six-year, $75 million extension with a $12.5 million annual average value, a deal that begins next season. The Blackhawks also brought him in with a clear opportunity in mind: a real shot at becoming a No. 1 defenseman.
Byram has already shown what he can do in a Hawks sweater. He scored a hat trick in his preseason debut, a loud first impression with his new Western Conference club. The regular season has been much quieter so far, though, with no points and a minus-three rating through three games.
It’s still early, and Chicago has had a rough opening stretch of its own. Connor Bedard’s shoulder injury has only made that start tougher. Even so, Byram’s adjustment figures to take time, because he’s stepping into a new kind of responsibility.
For most of his career, he’s been the second guy on the depth chart, first behind Cale Makar in Colorado and then Rasmus Dahlin in Buffalo. Now the Blackhawks are asking him to handle the top spot more often, and that means more minutes against top competition and more pressure in his own zone.
The offensive upside is obvious. Byram’s skating lets him fly through transition, and he’s coming off a career-best 42 points last season for Buffalo, with 11 goals and 31 assists. The defensive consistency, though, has been less steady over the years, which is why this next step comes with some real growing pains.
His first chance to face the Sabres this season already passed, and he missed that game for a very good reason: his wife, Kailey, gave birth to twin girls that day. That leaves Nov. 12 at the United Center as his lone meeting with Buffalo.
Back in Western New York, the Sabres have been piecing together life without him. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen opened the offseason saying he hoped to sign Byram to an extension, but the club eventually dealt him to Chicago instead.
Buffalo didn’t replace him with one direct answer. It got Louis Crevier in the trade and later used the No. 45 pick in the 2026 draft, another piece from that deal, in a move with the Anaheim Ducks for Olen Zellweger.
Since then, Lindy Ruff has been shuffling the blue line on the fly. Dahlin has spent most of his time with Mattias Samuelsson, just as he did for most of the 2025-26 season, while Owen Power looked effective in that spot 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 chances there, especially in more defense-first situations.
Zach Metsa and Matt Grzelcyk are also in the mix while Conor Timmins works back from a lower-body injury. Ruff isn’t locking into three fixed pairings right now; he’s changing things in game based on the score and situation.
The results have been uneven, with Buffalo allowing 11 goals through three games. But for now, that kind of constant movement is the best option the Sabres have.
And it all feeds back into the offseason debate around the team. Moving Byram and winger Alex Tuch made some sense based on the circumstances, but Buffalo’s lack of major additions to replace them left real questions about whether the roster could actually move forward this season.
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There is also a television element to the reunion, since Olczyk is returning as an analyst for select CHSN games. For Blackhawks fans, it adds another voice who knows the market, the crest and the expectations that come with it, and his first assignment in that role is set to include a meeting with the Carolina Hurricanes. [Read more 🡒]