It is never an easy time being traded to a new team, and it is even less easy being moved from a championship-caliber roster, to a playoff bubble team. On March 6, 2024, the Buffalo Sabres made a pure hockey trade and swapped Casey Mittelstadt for Bowen Byram with the Colorado Avalanche, and they finally weaponized some of their forward depth to address their defensive depth. With Mittelstadt being one of their leading scorers for the regular season, the timing was ripe for general manager Kevyn Adams to score himself a solid young, two-way defender with some fantastic potential, and Byram was easily the best trade deadline acquisition for the Sabres. Once Byram was on the roster, the sample size was small, but the results ended up being mixed by the time the season ended.
Byram Had Early Success, Until Granato Broke Him
He was an absolute dynamo from the moment he stepped on the ice for his first shift. He looked like a breath of fresh air on the back end; skating hard, making plays, stepping up into plays, shooting pucks, and really making his presence known regardless of where he was. In his first game alone, he scored a goal and an assist, and in his first four games, he had three goals and five points. All of his good habits from Colorado were still there, and he looked like a completely different player compared to the rest of the Sabres’ defense. His movements were crisp, his creativity was evident, his defense was sharp, and every good habit he had from his Stanley Cup-winning days were on full display. Then, after around six or seven games, the Sabres and now-former head coach Don Granato’s broken system seemed to sink its teeth into him.
After watching all his good habits, I remember watching him hoping that Granato and the Sabres’ defense would take some cues from him and really learn something. To my dismay, the opposite happened, and Byram was the one who was stifled by the suffocating defensive system that Granato used all season long. He went from stepping up and taking smart chances and playing a good transition game to sitting back and forcing chances along the perimeter and turning the puck over on a regular basis. His scoring production completely dropped off as he scored zero goals after his two-goal game on March 12, and he only mustered four more assists after his aforementioned hot start. This had him finish with nine points in 18 games, which is not a bad…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…