It was quite the Tuesday as we saw the Edmonton Oilers finally hire Mike Babcock to be their next Head Coach, and a slew of significant trades with Simon Nemec being shipped to the Calgary Flames (wrote about that here), the Ottawa Senators replacing Brady Tkachuk with William Eklund (wrote about there here), and the long-rumoured Jordan Kyrou trade finally coming to fruition as he was traded to the Washington Capitals (wrote about that here).

Not to be outdone, there was one final trade on Tuesday night, and it was the Chicago Blackhawks acquiring Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway from the Buffalo Sabres for the fourth overall pick in 2026, the 45^th overall pick in 2026, and defenceman Louis Crevier. Byram is coming off the best regular season of his career with 11 goals and 42 points, and he was very good in the postseason for the Sabres with 7 points in 13 games.

Let's break it down.

What Chicago Gets

Back in May, I wrote a little bit on Byram with regards to hits *taken*. The reason for that is Byram has a lengthy concussion history, and it seemed that for a few years, there was some hesitation on his part to take a hit to make a play. That is an understandable reaction given the health problems, but if an NHL blue liner is reticent to take hits to make plays, it would be enough to make them an ineffective defenceman. If Byram genuinely feels more comfortable taking hits, it makes him a different player now than he was 2-3 years ago. He has also played all 82 games in each of the last two seasons, so while concussion concerns will always be a thing, he genuinely appears to have turned a corner.

At his best, Byram is a guy who can move the puck out of his defensive zone with efficiency, carry the puck through the neutral zone, jump into the rush, and score goals. In fact, over the last five seasons, he has shot 11% overall, which leads all defencemen with at least 300 games played in that span. When he really gets going, he's more like a fourth forward than a second defenceman, scoring goals himself or creating offence for his line mates. He has also done that while playing top-pair minutes over the last two years.

Going to Chicago, he immediately becomes their #1 defenceman (for now). The Blackhawks' time on ice leader last season was Alex Vlasic at 21:08 (per Frozen Tools) and Byram has exceeded that level each of the last four seasons, with back-to-back years over 22 minutes. That should mean sharing lots of ice time with Connor Bedard, which gives Bedard a defenceman to play off of at 5-on-5. It should also mean that Byram at least gets first crack at the top power-play unit, though he might just be keeping the seat warm for Artyom Levshunov or Sam Rinzel to eventually take over. Byram really needs those PP minutes for this to be a fantasy upgrade for him, because Chicago and Buffalo are worlds apart offensively at 5-on-5.

This trade does move some of the Chicago defencemen down a notch. Vlasic likely stays on the top pair in the 21- to -22-minute range, but the Blackhawks had three defencemen skate between 18-20 minutes a game last year. With Vlasic and Byram on the top pair, and Levshunov now likely slotting as the #3, there won't be as much ice time for depth options like Rinzel or Wyatt Kaiser. It also gives Rinzel more competition for a top PP role that he couldn't hang onto last season.

Jordan Greenway has just 74 games played over the last two years as he's had a real tough time with injuries. He was reduced to a fourth-line role lately in Buffalo, and he likely takes a similar role with Chicago, though he can move up if younger players like Nick Lardis or Ryan Greene can't hold onto their middle-6 spots. Greenway should still be a source of hits, but don't expect him to put up more than 20-25 points if he can play a full season.

What Buffalo Gets

The 2025-26 season saw Crevier post 25 points, 114 shots, 63 PIMs, 124 hits, and 95 blocks in 78 games. That is solid multi-cat fantasy value, and with the trades the Sabres have made on the blue line, he is either the #4 or #5 defenceman for the team right now. That could give him around 18 minutes a night, or a bit of an uptick compared to what he got with Chicago last year. He can repeat the season he just had; we just have to see if Buffalo decides to add any more defencemen given what they've moved out already this offseason.

This is nothing but good news for Owen Power. It makes him no worse than the #3 defenceman for the Sabres, and it might push him to #2 depending on whether Mattias Samuelsson can repeat the success he just had. It also gives Power a clear path to secondary PP minutes, and that could see him double his PPTOI from last season. He is still second-fiddle to Dahlin for the top PP unit, but Power had zero PP points last year, and now he is in a spot to produce 5-10 PPPs. That makes him easily a 30-point defenceman, and gives him a real chance to get back to the 40-point mark.

This is also good news for Zach Metsa. It doesn't look like the Sabres are re-signing Logan Stanley or Luke Schenn, they already traded Michael Kesselring, and swapping out Byram for Crevier is a downgrade. All that means Metsa, as of right now, has a chance to be a lineup regular. If he plays well enough, he could very well be their #4 defenceman by Christmas.

The Byram trade also means that Radim Mrtka has a real chance at cracking the NHL roster out of training camp. He is unlikely to play on one of the top two pairs, but he's now duelling with Metsa and Crevier for a bottom-pair role, rather than duelling with Metsa for the final lineup spot. He might just get a full year in the AHL, but there's at least a viable path here.

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