Why the Bowen Byram trade fits a need for the Blackhawks, but creates pressure
Former Blackhawks player Dennis Hull dies
The Blackhawks are mourning the loss of a legend, Dennis Hull.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday morning, it’s clear why Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson traded for Bowen Byram on Tuesday evening.
It was a big swing, sending the fourth overall pick, the 45th overall pick and Louis Crevier to Buffalo.
It’s a swing that should signal to Chicago that the Blackhawks they’re not content with how things are currently going. The team wants to make sure it takes the next step, and they paid a good price for it.
"It’s immediate help. It makes us a better team," Davidson said on Wednesday morning. "It also provides our young defensemen for even better development opportunities."
The consensus, however, is the team made the wrong move. Trading No. 4 overall for an established NHL player was in the cards. The hockey world just assumed it would be a top-six forward.
Outside noise aside, the Blackhawks’ trade for Byram fills a need. There’s more than one way to look at this trade.
Big picture view:
The outside noise is deafening. Plenty are astounded that Davidson didn’t acquire a player who could slot next to Connor Bedard.
Logically, that’s what made the most sense. The Blackhawks have been trying to find a player to put next to their star since he entered the league in 2023.
That’s why the optics of taking a massive swing on a defenseman instead of a winger aren’t great, to say the least. It’s not just that, either. The Blackhawks gave up so much to acquire Byram, it’s probably an overpay.
Beyond that, the Blackhawks will extend Byram with a contract that will pay him like a top NHL defenseman. He has never been a team’s No. 1 defenseman, not in Buffalo or in Colorado, where he played behind Rasmus Dahlin and Cale Makar, respectively.
So, why make this trade? It’s because the move gives the Blackhawks something they’ve been hoping to get with one of their prospects.
Could one of Crevier, Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel or Kevin Korchinski, all whom the Blackhawks selected with first-round picks, have developed into that No. 1 defenseman? Yes. The same could be said about a defenseman the Blackhawks would have taken at No. 4 overall.
Instead, Davidson swung for a player that’s going to help the team now as opposed to a few seasons. He swung for a player on the doorstep of being a top defenseman. Now, the Blackhawks are giving Byram that opportunity.
Byram has earned that chance, especially after a career year where he scored 42 points, including 11 goals. It goes beyond that, too.
Byram won a Stanley Cup with Colorado. In the last weeks of the 2025-2026 season, the Blackhawks played six defensemen who were under 25-years-old. When Davidson mentions Byram being a leader in a room of young defensemen, this is what he’s alluding to.
He wants someone to teach these players how to win. He swung for Byram to be that player.
"I feel like I’ve just been preparing for an opportunity like this for a long time," Byram told reporters on Wednesday.
The other side:
Even though the Blackhawks don’t have a clear answer for who might play alongside Bedard, the team is bullish on the players in their pipeline.
Frank Nazar and Nick Lardis have played in the NHL. 2025 No. 3 overall pick Anton Frondell made his debut this past season, too. They’ve gotten a taste of the league. There’s still Roman Kantserov, one of the Blackhawk’s top prospects who’s coming over from Russia, who is going to make his NHL debut.
Ivar Stenberg is seen as one of the most NHL-ready players in this Friday’s 2026 NHL Draft. He would have been a near-perfect fit for the Blackhawks, but it seems unlikely he would have dropped to the Blackhawks at No. 4. Rookie center Caleb Malhotra was unlikely to drop to No. 4, either.
The Blackhawks dealing that No. 4 overall selection for an established defenseman made sense when the best available players were going to be defensemen. Not only that, but Byram will help Bedard.
As a two-way defenseman, Byram will run the power play. His offensive skills to align with Bedard in an effort to lift the team on both ends of the ice. They’re both excited, as Byram said Bedard called him after the trade went through.
"I’m super excited to get the opportunity to play with him," Byram said. "Everyone knows how good of a player he is."
A trade like this carries weight on Davidson’s shoulders. Byram needs to be a smash hit. Teams don’t trade a top-five selection often in the NHL. Davidson made his move and there needs to be a payoff now. The pressure is on the general manager, but he obviously made this move knowing that.
This was an effort to lift the Blackhawks into the next step of a rebuild that’s been going on for years at this point. Davidson has three first-round picks, two second-round picks and two third-round picks in the 2027 NHL Draft, too. Perhaps those picks can add up to another swing.
Either way, Davidson is getting aggressive. Just because Byram isn’t Bedard’s running mate doesn’t mean Davidson won’t eventually get one for his star.
The Blackhawks didn’t have a No. 1 defenseman, either. Now, they have one.
"He fits the style of play that we want to play," Davidson said. "He fits that the age range that we want to put our players into and have our players grow together within. And so it just made a lot of sense."