With several insiders, such as Rick Dhaliwal and Elliotte Friedman, reporting that the Vancouver Canucks have interest in Buffalo Sabers defenseman Bowen Byram, it would be wise to look at the costs in recent trades for similar young defensemen.
There are seven defensive ends who were of similar age and value over the past 10 seasons. Using these comparisons, it should be possible to put together a Canucks trade package that fits the historical cost.
Now let’s examine all past trades and try to find some common ground between Byram and the other defenseman to formulate a realistic trade scenario.
Features of Bowen Byram
- 6’1″, 205 lbs
- 196 career games
- 90 points
- Stanley Cup success
- Left-footed defender
- 23 years old
- Traded last season in a one-for-one trade for a center
- RFA at the end of the season
- Past lottery picks
*All statistics are at the time the player was traded.
Nick Leddy & Kent Simpson for TJ Brennan, Ville Pokka, & Anders Nilsson
Acquisition Team: New York Islanders
Trading team: Chicago Blackhawks
Traded during off season 2014
- 6’0″, 205 lbs
- 258 career games
- 93 points
- Stanley Cup success
- Left-footed defender
- 23 years old
- Signing rights traded from Minnesota Wild to Blackhawks
- One season under contract, then RFA
- 16th overall draft pick
- Why he was traded: At that point in his career, he was used mostly as a third-pair and second-unit power play defender. The Blackhawks were $1.2 million over the salary cap at the time of the trade
Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen
Acquisition Team: Columbus blue jackets
Trading team: Nashville Predators
Traded during the 2015-16 season
- 6’4″, 213 lbs
- 199 career games
- 63 points
- 6 playoff games
- Right-footed defender
- 20 years old
- Had not been traded before
- RFA at the end of the season
- Past lottery picks
- Why he was traded: The Predators were looking for a center first. Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis were all in the mid-20s, making defense a strong position for the Predators
Erik Gudbranson and a fifth for Jared McCann a second and a fourth
Acquisition Team: Vancouver Canucks
Trading team: Florida Panthers
Traded during off season 2016
- 6’5″, 222 lbs
- 309 career games
- 43 points
- 13 playoff games
- Right-footed defender
- 24 years old
- Had not been traded
- One season under contract, then RFA
- Past lottery picks
- Why he was traded: Despite an impressive physique, Gudbranson had to be consistently carried by his partner
Jacob Trouba for Neal Pionk and a first
Acquisition Team: New York Rangers
Trading team: Winnipeg Jets
Traded during off-season 2019
- 6’3″, 212 lbs
- 408 career games
- 179 points
- 27 playoff games
- Right-footed defender
- 25 years old
- Had not been traded
- RFA at time of trade
- Ninth overall pick
- Why he was traded: Had informed the Jets that he would not be signing there
Alexander Romanov and a fourth for a first
Acquisition Team: New York Islanders
Trading team: Montreal Canadiens
Shopped during off season 2022
- 6’1″, 220 lbs
- 133 career games
- 19 points
- Four playoff games
- Left-footed defender
- 22 years old
- Had not been traded
- RFA at time of trade
- Second round selection
- Why he was traded: Wanting to focus on their center depth, the Canadiens quickly traded the first pick they got for Romanov to the Blackhawks for big center Kirby Dach
Philip Hronek and a fourth for first and second
Acquisition Team: Vancouver Canucks
Trading team: Detroit Red Wings
Traded during the 2022-23 season
- 6’0″, 190 lbs
- 305 games
- 156 points
- No playoff experience
- Right-footed defender
- 24 years old
- Played four games then was placed on injured reserve. Had one more season under contract before RFA
- Second round pick
- Why he was traded: The Red Wings didn’t feel he matched, age-wise, with their younger defensive prospects, and they felt his billing stats would inflate his next contract beyond what they were comfortable paying
Jakob Chychrun for a first, second and second
Acquisition Team: Ottawa Senators
Trading team: Arizona Coyotes
Traded during the 2022-23 season
- 6’2″, 205 lbs
- 373 games
- 170 points
- Nine playoff games
- Left-footed defender
- 24 years old
- UFA in two seasons
- 16th overall draft pick
- Why he was traded: He had asked to be traded. The Coyotes no longer played in an NHL rink and the team began getting banned from hotels around North America for not paying bills
Forward:
Nils Höglander
Max Sasson
Arshdeep Bains
Aatu Räty
Linus Karlsson
Nils Åman
Jonathan Lekkerimäki
Vilmer Alriksson
Defenders:
Vincent Desharnais
Elias Pettersson
Kirill Kudryavtsev
Cole McWard
Sawyer Mynio
Tom Willander
Goalkeepers:
Arturs Silovs
Nikita Tolopilo
Draft Picks:
2025: 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th
2026: 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th
2027: 1st, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th
With all of that in mind, here’s what would be a comparable trade to some we’ve seen in the past with some of these Canucks assets.
Bowen Byram & fourth pick (2025) for Nils Höglander, first (2025) and second pick (2026)
In all of those trades, four first- and second-round picks, a fourth-round pick, a decent prospect in Ville Pokka, three young NHL players and two draft picks were acquired by the team that traded away the defenseman. No team had to give up one of their top prospects in a trade for any of these players.
Neal Pionk was seen as a promising young player, but his sudden development into a top-four defenseman when he arrived in Winnipeg was unexpected. Jared McCann had endured a difficult rookie season in Vancouver, where he was in over his head and seen as arrogant by management. But around the league he was seen as a very good prospect who should have been in junior. It wasn’t until the expansion Seattle Kraken gave him an opportunity as their offensive weapon that he broke out six seasons later.
If a young NHLer is involved, we’re looking for someone with good upside but also flaws. A first choice is almost certainly included.
Of those the Canucks can offer, Nils Höglander makes the most sense as the young player. Notice that none of the deals above included a first-rounder and a youngster package. However, Höglander plays a less valuable position than the other players traded (McCann was still a center at the time of his trade), and his size limits his appeal. The 5’9″, 185 pound winger is currently mired in an ugly scoring slump and has struggled to get more than 10 minutes of ice time per game.
Höglander and a second round pick feel very easy. The earlier a trade occurs in the season, the more the acquiring team has to pay. Assuming this transaction – in typical Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin fashion – takes place well before the trade deadline, there would need to be an extra sweetener. Meanwhile, Höglander, a first and second, would be the most given up of all these trades where draft picks are involved.
The two approaches to this are to do what the Canucks and Islanders did in the Filip Hronek and Alexander Romanov trades. The two teams attached a fourth-round pick to the incoming player or downgraded the second-round draft pick. The first approach is quite popular in these professions, as evidenced by the Gudbranson, Romanov and Hronek trades, so that is the method we will use.
Risks associated with Byram:
Acquiring Byram is not without risks. He has a long concussion history, which should give any team pause. He is also a restricted free agent after this season. Elliotte Friedman reported on his 32 Thoughts – The Podcast that he believes Bowen Byram wants an opportunity to be the team’s number one defenseman.
With the Canucks, he would be supposed to run his own pair, but he wouldn’t get the primary unit’s power play time or on the ice in the final moments of a game. The long-term viability from both a health and contract perspective would have to be something the Canucks could decide on via information that is not publicly available.
As for Byram’s next contract, he won’t become an unrestricted free agent until the summer of 2028. There are three more seasons of team control when his current contract is up. The closest comparable contracts signed this offseason are Sean Durzi (four years/$6 million), Moritz Seider (seven years/$8.55 million) and Filip Hronek (eight years/$7.25 million).
Durzi and Hronek were older than Byram when they signed their contracts, while Seider was younger but is the number one defenseman for the Red Wings. With a salary cap that will take several consecutive jumps after this season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Byram’s next contract end up similar to Filip Hronek’s. Another option would be to sign him to a two-year bridge deal that leaves one season of RFA eligibility (like what Filip Hronek and Elias Pettersson got). If that were the case, the cap would likely fall around $5 million.
Currently, the Canucks have about $15.87 million in projected cap space for next season with a $92.4 million salary cap and 16/23 roster spots, according to PuckPedia.
Center:
JT Miller, Elias Pettersson, & Teddy Blueger
Outside:
Jake DeBrusk, Conor Garland, Dakota Joshua, Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood and Nils Hoglander
Defenders:
Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek, Carson Soucy, Tyler Myers and Vincent Desharnais
Goalkeepers:
Thatcher Demko & Arturs Silovs
RFAs:
Max Sasson & Erik Brannström
UFAs:
Brock Boeser, Pius Suter, Derek Forbort, Noah Juulsen and Kevin Lankinen
If the Canucks can move out Höglander and Desharnais’ contracts without taking on incoming salary, that would push next season’s projected cap space to $20.87 million on a 14/23 list. Fitting Byram into next season’s roster with a contract between $5M-$7.5M average annual value (AAV) is feasible. That would leave about $14 million to fill eight roster spots and very little room to keep Boeser on the team.
But why would the Sabers do this?
The Sabers are in the midst of another hugely disappointing season. This team is winless in December and is currently on a 12-game losing streak that has seen them compile an 0-9-3 record. The last thing the Sabers need is another small winger who has struggled to score and a bunch of draft picks. Unless Sabers General Manager Kevyn Adams is confident he can then turn draft picks into another game — as the Canucks did by turning part of the Bo Horvat return into Filip Hrone — a deal based on terms doesn’t make sense for the Sabres.
Byram was traded one-for-one for Casey Mittelstadt last season, so it’s an organization that has already avoided trading a young asset for terms. However, don’t avoid a desperate boss making a move that defies conventional reasoning in an attempt to save his job. Sabers General Manager Kevyn Adams recently received the kiss of death vote of confidence from Sabers owner Terry Pegula to make matters worse.
Using irrefutable evidence and rigorous research, we’ve come up with a foolproof trade proposition that neither Kevyn Adams nor Patrik Allvin would reject. It’s just science. Or it’s a massive flop of an idea that doesn’t make anyone happy.
What do you think, Canucks fans? Where do you Canucks fans fall on this trade proposal?
