Confirmed Trade: [CHI/BUF] Bowen Byram, Jordan Greenway for Louis Crevier, 2026 1st round pick (4th overall), 2026 2nd round pick (45th overall)

[bossram]

Uhhhh....


I think Davidson is "back."

The rule of GMing: Call the dumb GMs repeatedly.

 

[Leafidelity]

Geez, Davidson lost his shirt on this one

 

[Mattilaus]

Power is a good player but he’s overrated by the Buffalo fan base. Like Byram, he’s coming off a good 65% of a season.

But there is a lot of less than impressive Power play on film over the past few seasons. He definitely hasn’t been consistently good.

The team played really well last year for about 70% of the season. I wonder if they’ll keep that up or not. Power may maintain it. Maybe not.

sure

 

[State of Hockey]

Insane overpayment by Chicago. I can't believe how much they gave up. This will help keep them in the basement. Props to Buffalo.

 

[Divine]

@Divine pretty good value I’d say

Don't know what Chicago is doing, but you just traded him away for futures at the moment. The picks need to hit and or be traded for a roster player. As of today, you're a worse team.

 

[Al Lagoon]

 

[MasterofGrond]

Davidson, what will you give me for Markstrom? Bidding starts at all 3 2027 firsts

 

[OkimLom]

Are Buffalo fans happy with this? For me I feel like it isn't close to what Byram brings.

Very happy with the return of the trade. They maxed out on a player in value, someone that wasn’t going to be higher than a 2nd pairing guy that wasn’t happy with icetime that wasn’t, nor, isn’t there that he wants. Unless you think Byram is worth a top 3 player in the draft, I would think at the very least of getting equal value is a good trade considering the circumstances.

Add in dumping a contract of Greenway and getting back a top 50 pick, and an okay prospect, while also NOT giving up your other 1st rounder (yet), is a massive win in my eyes.

The ultimate conclusion will come down to how they manage these assets they received and kept, right now, I’m very happy.

Byram while above average offensively, he has way too many stretches of poor defensive play in his own zone to think he deserves what he was asking for. Buffalo is an organization that has structured their team in a way, to be able to let him go like we did.

For a player that was a last resort to get something for a player that was also walking at the time (Mittelstadt), he was useful at times, and I have no hate for the guy, but to get a top 5 draft pick with the context that happened, I’m very happy to get this sort of return.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

This is the third time Kekalainen fleeced Chicago (Panarin trade, Jones trade). Incredible.

 

[Waterbuf]

Ridiculous. Who is going to play with Bedard?
I'm off the bandwagon of giving a crap what happens with the Hawks rebuild, bye.

 

[quat]

Insane overpayment by Chicago. I can't believe how much they gave up. This will help keep them in the basement. Props to Buffalo.

Don't worry, they'll win the lottery next year from 10th place and someone will gift Davidson a major piece for some unknown reason.

 

[JS19]

It can be both. It's also a terrible FA class.

IIRC there hasn't been a top 10 pick traded pre-draft in the three drafts before this. You don't think that the quality of this one has anything to do with the trades we've seen this week? Hope springs eternal for fans but there's lots of scouts not very high on this class generally.

Most of the classes you list are too early to have a final say of their status (I will say, 2024 is looking very interesting with Demidov, Buium and Sennecke in particular).
I don't think teams automatically go "welp time to trade this pick, class is shite", it's a bit reductive and completely ignores the context of why team(s) might consider trading that pick. I think it's pretty clear that trading the 4th overall says more about Chicago wanting to fast-track their rebuild, and not bother drafting a forward/defenseman that might not pan out for another year+. They feel a sense of urgency to build around Connor Bedard before his free agency years become a concern.

As for the draft itself, the lack of a clear consensus for this year is a bit different from other draft classes, in that the players seem relatively even with flaws in their games that is ultimately up to scouts to decide what they value in an NHL prospect. I think it'll end up being a solid class and we'll lambaste teams for choosing x over y. Compare this to 2012, where Yakupov was seen as the clear consensus, even though he would end up amounting to nothing. The top end of the class were flops for various reasons despite having some form of hype.

Buffalo now has the flexibility to decide if they want to add a defenseman (which they can totally afford to let him develop for 3-5 years with most of their current D-core taken care of), or if they want to add a young forward.

 

[Sombastate]

This only makes sense if Kyle Davidson knows the world ends tomorrow and he wanted to pull a final prank

 

[gdsmack267]

Sabres D core is massive

 

[rogking65]

Will be interesting to hear the rationale from Davidson.

Chicago isn't even close to close. They'll be good by the time Byram is an anchor.

he just turned 25,,,still young for a D

 

[Divine]

This only makes sense if Kyle Davidson knows the world ends tomorrow and he wanted to pull a final prank

Or if Chicago thinks the D in this draft class suck

 

[Harvey Birdman]

Chicago…

 

[Dhaulagiri]

It’s better to get a guy who can actually play NHL hockey instead of rolling the dice in the draft. You could end up with a Levshunov or a Korchinski. Anyway we’ll have plenty more top 4 picks so it’s ok to skip a year

 

[Whitesnake]

 

[MessierII]

Will be interesting to hear the rationale from Davidson.

Chicago isn't even close to close. They'll be good by the time Byram is an anchor.

Byram is 25 he hasn’t even hit his ceiling yet.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Buffalo are determined to stay at the top while Chicago want to take Buffalo's role as the eternal rebuilding team.

 

[Forge]

 

[Fledgemyhedge]

The good news is that they have secured many future top 5 picks because of this move.

 

[NYR94]

This is the third time Kekalainen fleeced Chicago (Panarin trade, Jones trade). Incredible.

Chicago should block his number

 

[clydesdale line]