Kevyn Adams exhibited quite a bit of patience over the last 24-plus months, making scant few trades since sending Jack Eichel to Vegas in November 2021.
That all changed on Wednesday when he acquired Bowen Byram from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Casey Mittelstadt. A hockey trade in the purest sense, Adams made the acquisition that eluded him in the offseason as he bolsters his blueline with another U25 player with team control.
This trade won’t lack criticism. Mittelstadt had found his game over the last two seasons and he’d been one of Buffalo’s most consistent and effective forwards this season. He was delivering on his draft pedigree and provided the Sabres with three reliable centermen on a nightly basis. Mittelstadt’s next contract was going to be a challenge for the Sabres as the potential for the deal to upset their salary structure was a real possibility. Still, his contributions over the last two seasons were terrific. He had evolved into a two-way weapon, adept at winning battles along the wall with the impressive playmaking attributes that made him a high draft pick.
At 25, with team control, Mittelstadt was also a prime trade candidate, especially considering the extensions the Sabres had given to Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens. Extending him wasn’t out of the question, but he offered Adams a trade chip few other GMs had at their disposal.
Byram arrives as the top four addition the Sabres have been hunting since at least last summer. His acquisition ought to mark the end of the heavy lifting for Adams and the Sabres blueline. Byram is an RFA in the summer of 2025 and will be a prime candidate for an extension, joining Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson on long term deals. The overload of lefties doesn’t seem to be something the Sabres are concerned with, especially considering how adept Rasmus Dahlin has been in playing his off side.
Fully unlocking Byram’s potential will be the key to this deal for the Sabres. He was electric for the Avalanche in the 2022 Cup Finals and his early play painted a picture of a dominant, play driving defenseman. His impacts have cooled and he’s played through an up-and-down year up until the deal. At his best, he’s an elite skater with a dynamic offensive skill set who can dictate shifts. His abilities as a puck mover fit in well with the defense corps Adams has assembled and if those skills blossom, Byram could pay off in a big way.
One of the issues that have followed Byram this year is the glut of forward talent beyond Colorado’s top line. Ryan Johansen and Miles Wood were Bryam’s two most common teammates this season and neither have been particularly strong in the neighborhood of underlying impacts. The Avalanche went so far as to attach Johansen to their deal to Philadelphia for Sean Walker to rid themselves of the trouble (and open salary and a roster spot for Mittelstadt). It stands to reason that stronger teammates and deployment will produce better overall results, something Corey Szanjder highlighted in his breakdown of the trade.
Make no mistake, there is a sizeable gamble to this trade. Byram hasn’t been the minute eating force he was in the 2022 postseason. His The Sabres will have a bit of work to do in deploying him properly, but the foundation is there and with 147 NHL games played, he isn’t a future asset. He’s here to help today. If they can put him back into a position where his tantalizing skill set can thrive, he can be a key factor in Buffalo’s future.
I’m curious to see what Adams does with the rest of his defense corps. As first noted by Chad DeDominicis of Expected Buffalo, Henri Jokiharju could easily find himself as the odd man out on the blueline. And I can’t help but wonder if Adams can pull another rabbit out of his hat by Friday, leveraging Jokiharju in a trade for a viable NHL forward. Whether help comes on Friday or in the summer, that’s the next step in the process and as a young, right handed defenseman with RFA rights, Jokiharju ought to carry a fair bit of value in the trade market.
Pulling off two notable hockey trades ahead of the deadline is a lot to ask of any GM. It’s not totally out of the question, but it feels like a bit of a longshot. Even if the Byram trade is the only trade Adams makes outside of moving his UFAs, it marks a key step in the continued process of shaping this roster. A big step at that, one that has set the table for the next move Adams is targeting.
Two in the Box 