Report: Sabres’ D Bowen Byram ‘would like to be a Canuck’

Byram has long been linked to the Canucks since the Cranbrook, British Columbia native entered the 2019 NHL draft as a member of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants. He was taken fourth overall by the Avalanche that year, six picks ahead of Vancouver, who selected Vasili Podkolzin at 10th overall. The blue liner was later dealt to Buffalo at the trade deadline in 2024. Now headed into his sixth NHL season, speculation continues that Byram may be interested in returning to his home province.

The 24-year-old is coming off his first 82-game NHL season, steadily increasing his playing time every year since first playing 19 games with the Avalanche in the 2020-21 season. Through the year he played top minutes with the Sabres, averaging Buffalo’s second highest nightly TOI at 22:42. He registered 38 points and finished with a +11 rating.

While the Canucks’ blueline is at first glance a bit crowded, the Canucks may feel it’s in their best interest to move out a player or two to make room for Byram. Byram would be able to come in and take on big minutes and power play time, and those minutes would only grow if the Canucks can’t get an extension done with Quinn Hughes next summer. However, the more pertinent question will of course be the cost of acquisition.

Byram just finished a two-year, $7.7 million dollar contract, with an annual cap hit of $3.85 million. He is now a restricted free agent with the Sabres, meaning the Canucks have to consider what they’re willing to give up to Buffalo just for the bargaining rights to his contract. With reported interest from a number of teams across the league, it’s likely it won’t be a cheap acquisition either.

While Byram has long been linked to the Canucks, it will unfortunately come down to more than just the desires of Vancouver and Byram, with the Sabres holding the cards here. Nevertheless, Dater’s report does offer some hope that there is still interest from the 6’1″, 205 lb. defenceman in coming home. Now it’s up to Patrik Allvin to see if he can make it happen.

We recently wrote about Byram and the Canucks’ rumoured interest in the young defenceman. Read that below!