Speculation: What does Buffalo do with Bowen Byram?

EK392000

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They have to make a choice between Byram and Power. Keeping both is an unrealistic given how much cap would have to be allocated to the defence.

Trade one of them for a 2C and move Cozens to the wing.
 

Habs Halifax

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If they were smart they get out of that Power deal and get value while GMs still see a big D who went 1st OA

Power's trajectory reminds me of T Myers. Power will be a beast from age 25+ but you got to deal with the pains of maturing until then. He's a bit overpaid today yes. Slaf on the Habs might be going down the similar path. Going to take a while for them to reach prime time
 

Chainshot

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Power's trajectory reminds me of T Myers. Power will be a beast from age 25+ but you got to deal with the pains of maturing until then. He's a bit overpaid today yes. Slaf on the Habs might be going down the similar path. Going to take a while for them to reach prime time

Myers is so much more competitive and physical at similar ages to Power. Owen is one of the most passive defensemen I've ever watched - it's not that he needs to be a mangler, just initiate to get to a man and do anything when he gets to his check. He stands around, sometimes reaching for loose pucks, but he is so shy at just pushing people away from his net. There is no fire there. Myers on the other hand was a way better defender at this age, competitive, physically engaged in trying to move people away from his net, even if he was spindly.
 

TageGod

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I still think Power is going to be great. But Byram is great right now. When Dahlin went down, Byram carried water for 23 minutes a game and looked good. Results weren't there, but that's just how important Dahlin is. I'd resign Byram 8x8 if he'd stay and trade Power based on the player he's going to be.
13 game losing streak with Byram on the top pairing. Are you nuts?

The Sabres will do everything in their power to have him signed to a long term contract prior to the deadline, or trade him. Even if they likely have to overpay him to do so.

Once the deadline passes, he starts holding more and more leverage. Some may say the decision is already made, and that’s why his name is out there like it is. We’ve already heard the media leak about him seeing himself as a #1 and wants that opportunity. That’s an agent leak.

Fans all want to think every player is loyal and wants to help their team out, but Byrum didn’t choose to go to Buffalo and be behind Power and Dahlin. He’s gonna do what he feels is the best thing for his career. Players and agents rarely pass up an opportunity to have the leverage he will have, if he waits to file for arbitration this summer.

So obviously the Sabres do NOT want him filing for arbitration. Not with all the huge deals unproven, young dmen have been handed, and him already on a bridge deal. Not only will he likely hit the jackpot, his following qualifying offer will be ridiculous, and he’ll either pick his trade destination like Debrincat did, or walk straight into UFA.

Whatever the case, once this upcoming deadline passes, he takes control of so much of his future in the league.

It’s just today’s NHL with teams handing these massive deals to unproven Dmen. Including to Power in Buffalo. It’s why teams are now so scared of arbitration with any players, but especially good players. The Rangers have the same problem, albeit to a lessor extent, with K’Andre Miller.
I think you lock in your #1 overall D to an 8x8 10 times out of 10 from the potential he has shown. In 3 years its reasonably 12x8 if he didn't get signed.

Byram should be traded, period. To fix the center hole, or for an equal actual defensive D.
 
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Reality Czech

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Keep Byram. Trade Power?

That's what I would say, but it would depend on the potential return for either guy and who's going to be more ok playing second fiddle to Dahlin for the next decade.

If Byram is grumbling about playing his off side and not getting enough PP time then maybe that's the deciding factor. He's also got the concussion thing which may or may not be an issue in the future.
 

dire wolf

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Although trading Byram (or Power) for a good 1C or 2C makes sense, I think it's going to be tricky for Adams to make that deal, so I won't be surprised if they re-sign Byram and keep all 3 D for now.

Power is being highly underrated by a lot of people in this thread. At 22 years old, he's tied for 4th in the NHL in even-strength points while playing on a terrible team. He has elite vision and offensive instincts. If he can improve his shot, his offensive numbers could be absurd. His advanced stats are almost identical to Byram in every category. He gets a lot of crap because (a) he is not as physical as people want him to be given his size, and (b) he looks lost and makes some boneheaded plays in the D zone against the cycle. Guess what -- people said the same thing about Dahlin a couple of years ago. Power will never be the Chris Pronger we would like him to be, but he is going to be a stud. I don't have an issue with his contract, and I wouldn't be casually throwing him into trade proposals.
 

Fjordy

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Although trading Byram (or Power) for a good 1C or 2C makes sense, I think it's going to be tricky for Adams to make that deal, so I won't be surprised if they re-sign Byram and keep all 3 D for now.

Power is being highly underrated by a lot of people in this thread. At 22 years old, he's tied for 4th in the NHL in even-strength points while playing on a terrible team. He has elite vision and offensive instincts. If he can improve his shot, his offensive numbers could be absurd. His advanced stats are almost identical to Byram in every category. He gets a lot of crap because (a) he is not as physical as people want him to be given his size, and (b) he looks lost and makes some boneheaded plays in the D zone against the cycle. Guess what -- people said the same thing about Dahlin a couple of years ago. Power will never be the Chris Pronger we would like him to be, but he is going to be a stud. I don't have an issue with his contract, and I wouldn't be casually throwing him into trade proposals.
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While Byram had an advantage over Power, as he played a lot with Dahlin and his numbers improved because of it, without Dahlin, Byram's vacuum numbers are no better than Power's. It's probably riskier to keep Byram and trade Power than the other way around.
 
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HockeyVirus

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Power's trajectory reminds me of T Myers. Power will be a beast from age 25+ but you got to deal with the pains of maturing until then. He's a bit overpaid today yes. Slaf on the Habs might be going down the similar path. Going to take a while for them to reach prime time

I think the difference is Slaf is at least willing to use his size he just has to mature and learn when he can use it and when he needs to do other things to not put his team mates in bad spots.

Power seems more like a Freddy Gauthier type.. Size most would dream of but a gentile giant who just likes the hockey part of the sport and prefers you leave him alone and he will leave you alone.

These things can sometimes be coached into players, but his prime development years are flying by and it doesn't seem to be correcting. Sometimes it is just something in a players DNA.
 

BKarchitect

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Although trading Byram (or Power) for a good 1C or 2C makes sense, I think it's going to be tricky for Adams to make that deal, so I won't be surprised if they re-sign Byram and keep all 3 D for now.

Power is being highly underrated by a lot of people in this thread. At 22 years old, he's tied for 4th in the NHL in even-strength points while playing on a terrible team. He has elite vision and offensive instincts. If he can improve his shot, his offensive numbers could be absurd. His advanced stats are almost identical to Byram in every category. He gets a lot of crap because (a) he is not as physical as people want him to be given his size, and (b) he looks lost and makes some boneheaded plays in the D zone against the cycle. Guess what -- people said the same thing about Dahlin a couple of years ago. Power will never be the Chris Pronger we would like him to be, but he is going to be a stud. I don't have an issue with his contract, and I wouldn't be casually throwing him into trade proposals.

Yeah I was about to say…the idea that choosing Byram over Power is “going against the grain” is actually a reverse of what the reality is. At this point, I think Byram would kill Power in a poll, it’s pretty obvious given the responses in this thread…and I don’t think it’s that simple. And I am a Byram guy…his usage and results are higher and aesthetically, your talking about a guy in Power that as others have pointed out, seems passive while Byram is the ultimate “engaged” defensemen…sometimes not to his benefit.

But yeah, I’d be really scared to trade Power. He’s got unique skills in an uncommon frame. He’s like 18 months younger than Byram and already locked up.

At the end of the day, if Byram signs a long-term fairly friendly deal and people are offering more for Power…then of course you’d consider it. But I think the pendulum has swung too far to the gut reaction of “oh well of course you sign Byram and trade Power, that’s the smart thing to do”.
 
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Habs Halifax

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I think the difference is Slaf is at least willing to use his size he just has to mature and learn when he can use it and when he needs to do other things to not put his team mates in bad spots.

Power seems more like a Freddy Gauthier type.. Size most would dream of but a gentile giant who just likes the hockey part of the sport and prefers you leave him alone and he will leave you alone.

These things can sometimes be coached into players, but his prime development years are flying by and it doesn't seem to be correcting. Sometimes it is just something in a players DNA.

I find it's difficult to know for players in the age 20-25 range in most cases. Both of these two will have up/down movement and you won't know what you really have until they are 24/25 IMO. Got to deal with the pains of them developing and gaining momentum/confidence.

At the end of the day, they are not sure shot top line or top pairing assets.
 
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Habs Halifax

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Myers is so much more competitive and physical at similar ages to Power. Owen is one of the most passive defensemen I've ever watched - it's not that he needs to be a mangler, just initiate to get to a man and do anything when he gets to his check. He stands around, sometimes reaching for loose pucks, but he is so shy at just pushing people away from his net. There is no fire there. Myers on the other hand was a way better defender at this age, competitive, physically engaged in trying to move people away from his net, even if he was spindly.

Power is on the passive side for sure. Is this his style and you can't change it or is it simply him learning on the job and trying to do the little things right. Hard to know.

I don't know Power's game from the NCAA.... what was his style then? Was he more aggressive or more of the passive side where he just uses hid body as leverage and his smooth skating to get the space he needs?
 

HockeyVirus

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I find it's difficult to know for players in the age 20-25 range in most cases. Both of these two will have up/down movement and you won't know what you really have until they are 24/25 IMO. Got to deal with the pains of them developing and gaining momentum/confidence.

At the end of the day, they are not sure shot top line or top pairing assets.

We don't know his ceiling for sure you are right, he can still be an elite hockey player. Just I doubt physicality will be part of his game. Usually if it will be the players are physical right from draft +1 onwards.
 

dire wolf

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Keeping the 3 is the way to go if any of them can play RD.
Dahlin is very good on the right side. I don't have any problem keeping all 3 if they can sign Byram at a reasonable number. Byram and Dahlin make a great 1st pair, and Power can play on the second pair and PP2. However, they will have a ton of money locked up on defense and arguably still need another center. For me, Cozens could still turn it around and become a 2C, or maybe Kulich could be that guy. But the thought is that they would be better off sacrificing Byram or Power - who are both being under-utilized in some ways - in order to improve the C position. It would be nice to have Tage and EP as the top 2 centers. That gives you a 1A and 1B line. Cozens can shift over to wing. It's probably a better allocation of assets. It's just that the only high-end centers available have some warts, and trading a guy with Power's future is a little scary.
 

tsujimoto74

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Power is on the passive side for sure. Is this his style and you can't change it or is it simply him learning on the job and trying to do the little things right. Hard to know.

I don't know Power's game from the NCAA.... what was his style then? Was he more aggressive or more of the passive side where he just uses hid body as leverage and his smooth skating to get the space he needs?

He’s never been physical. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be a bad defender. We’ve seen him flash the ability to be a dominant two-way player in the NHL, not just in isolated plays but for entire games. He’s going to be a fantastic player and should be a very highly asset. But I’d trade one of him or Byram for the right center. We don’t need 2 of that guy in the line-up behind Dahlin.
 
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