Blues pushing to acquire top Sabres defenseman

Byram has managed an impressive 246 NHL games before the age of 25. He’s managed multiple seasons in top-line roles, on the back of high acclaim in his draft year. And yet, the instinctive offensive-defenseman has yet to manage a season with more than 40 points. He was a glowing defense partner for Dahlin — with the two managing a plus-15 goal differential in their minutes together — but struggled significantly away from the star padding — with a minus-22 goal-differential without Dahlin.

Those marks could spell reason for pessimism around the young defender. But of the many teams interested in striking a deal with Buffalo, the Blues may be the ones with the best role available for Byram. They recently lost their top left-defender in Torey Krug, who missed the entirety of last season with an ankle injury. Broberg admirably filled the top role in Krug’s absence, but only managed 29 points in 68 games on the full season. 

A move to St. Louis would push Byram into a direct competition with Broberg for top-pair minutes. Byram’s offensive instinct would be what wins him ice time in that battle — though losing out would mean a second-line role next to longtime pro Colton Parayko, while Justin Faulk mans the top role.

The need to lean into more offense could be the spark Byram needs, but landing the trade could be a lofty task for the Blues. They currently hold $625,150 in projected cap space — a number that will rise to just over $7M when Krug goes on long-term injured reserve. Byram earned a $3.85M cap hit on his last contract, and could be due double that mark after a year on Dahlin’s hip. That could take St. Louis right up to the salary cap mark, unless it can shed money in a move.

Top-end winger Jordan Kyrou has been rumored to be garnering interest from around the leagues, and would certainly make sense as the buy-up that Buffalo is looking for in a Byram trade. But Kyrou, 27, has reached the 70 point mark in three of the last four seasons — a streak only interrupted by his 67-point campaign last year. 

Should he be too rich of an asset to move, the Blues could also bank in on their wealth of high-upside prospects on the wing. They already dealt Zachary Bolduc away for a defense upgrade, and could find a similar move revolving around Jake Neighbours or Dalibor Dvorsky, packaged with additional capital.

Just over a week after claiming that the roster was “set”, Blues general manager has explored multiple ways to shake it up even further. Acquiring Byram would be another big-fish addition to a pond that’s been stocked up over the last two summers. The Blues earned a wild-card bid last season on a regulation-wins tiebreaker. They scored the most goals of any Western Conference team in the wild-card race, and could get an even bigger boost should Byram continue his growth through another move.