BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 The\u00a0Buffalo Sabres\u00a0acquired the No. 4 pick in the NHL draft in a trade that sent defenseman\u00a0Bowen Byram\u00a0to the\u00a0Chicago Blackhawks\u00a0on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of the deal, Buffalo also acquired third-year defenseman\u00a0Louis Crevier, who had a career-best 25 points in his first full NHL season, and a second-round draft pick, 46th overall. Chicago also acquired hard-hitting forward\u00a0Jordan Greenway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Byram is the key player in the trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 25-year-old had a career-high 42 points and matched a career high with 11 goals in 82 games in spending much of the season playing alongside captain Rasmus Dahlin as Buffalo\u2019s top defensive pairing. He was part of a deep and talented blue line that contributed to the Sabres winning their first Atlantic Division title and snapping an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the fourth pick, the Sabres are positioned to land a top prospect in a draft class that\u2019s loaded with highly regarded defenseman. Among the defensive candidates expected to be available at No. 4 are Carson Carels (WHL Prince George), North Dakota\u2019s Keaton Verhoeff and Latvia\u2019s Alberts Smits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buffalo hosts the two-day draft that opens with Round 1 on Friday night (7 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Chicago, Byram adds offense to a team that finished eighth in the Central Division standings for a fourth straight season and hasn\u2019t made the playoffs in six years. The Blackhawks have struggled to improve despite picking seventh or better in each of the past four drafts \u2014 a stretch that included them selecting Connor Bedard first overall in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chicago has a group of promising young defensemen, including Artyom Levshunov \u2014 the No. 2 pick in the 2024 draft \u2014 and Kevin Korchinski \u2014 the No. 7 pick in 2022. But the Blackhawks needed another veteran leader on the blue line after trading Connor Murphy to Edmonton on March 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 29-year-old Greenway is a 10-year NHL veteran, who spent three-plus seasons in Buffalo. He played a valuable checking line role, but has been slowed by injuries, limited to 74 games over the past two seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Byram spent his first three-plus seasons with Colorado, where he won the Stanley Cup in 2022 before being traded to Buffalo two years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams signed Byram to a two-year, $12.5 million contract last summer in a deal reached before the defenseman\u2019s arbitration hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addressing reporters after Buffalo was eliminated by Montreal in the second round of the playoffs last month, new Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen said he was placing a priority on signing Byram to a long-term contract this offseason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 6-foot-8 and 228 pounds, Crevier brings size and a hard shot to the Sabres a mere five days after they traded 6-foot-5 defenseman Michael Kesselring to San Jose. The teams swapped first-round selections with Buffalo moving up seven spots in the order by landing the Sharks pick at No. 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sabres now have six picks in this year’s draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 The\u00a0Buffalo Sabres\u00a0acquired the No. 4 pick in the NHL draft in a trade that sent defenseman\u00a0Bowen Byram\u00a0to the\u00a0Chicago Blackhawks\u00a0on Tuesday night. As part of the deal, Buffalo also acquired third-year defenseman\u00a0Louis Crevier, who had a career-best 25 points in his first full NHL season, and a second-round draft pick, 46th overall. Chicago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418246,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418245\/revisions\/418246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}