Sabres trade Mittelstadt to Avalanche for Bowen Byram!

Sabres trade Mittelstadt to Avalanche for Bowen Byram!

Well I just got to say I am pleasantly surprised that I am about to do a show talking about a trade bigger than I anticipated to be talking about this week KY middlest stat for Bowen Byrum let’s talk about it coming up here in the locked on Sabers Podcast your locked on Sabers your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day and thanks for making locked on Sabers your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast part of the lock on podcast Network your team every day and today’s episode is brought to you by sleeper download the sleeper app use the promo

Code locked on NHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit terms and conditions apply see sleepers terms of use for details Sound the Alarm trade alert a bigger trade than I thought we were going to get a trade that we have talked about on this show the type of

Trade I should say we’ve talked about in this show going back to at least the summer if not even into last season Casey midd stat to another team for a top four defensemen in a hockey trade which has become a rarity in today’s NHL where you get a one for one player deal

But the Sabers and the Colorado Avalanche worked it out to an extent where we had a deal it’s official Casey mdstat is on his way to Colorado Bowen Byam is on his way to Buffalo we’ll let you all know all about Byrum what the Sabers are getting a a list of reasons

Why I love this trade but also know that it’s not without risk there is risk involved in this deal but there is also a lot of upside and if you know me the way I think about Not Just Hockey but Sports is I want to

Chase as much upside as I can get and I think this deal has a lot of upside for the Savers be sure to get involved on our text line you go to go to join sub tex.com loock ons saers you can write react to certain trades including this

One still you get alerts on Friday when the deadline comes about to see what we’re going to get um you know practice lines and updates and what we’re getting roster wise I had a discussion before the middle staff for Bay trade with fans in that chat about Vladimir tereno

Getting traded to Florida and how Sam Reinhardt is about to maybe win the Stanley Cup right after uh Jack eel and Ryan O’Reilly have done it as well so a lot of stuff to get to but if you want to get us uh when we’re not doing the

Show join sub.com lockon saers you can sign up there and then everything is on your phone from there on out so got the alert Midway through the day and there it was I actually didn’t see the original Twitter report by whoever had it first Elliot Freeman Kevin weeks was

In his laundry room talking about it middle stat for birum I got the text from the Sabers uh Sabers PR if you’re in the media you get some those alerts um usually it’s more for practice times and media schedule stuff but when they make a move official the pr team will

Send out um what’s just happened so I actually probably learned about it maybe after a lot of you because I wasn’t on Twitter and Twitter might have been 20 30 minutes ahead of when the deal was officially made official and there is something to be said for finding out

About a trade and that exhilaration in the first 30 seconds of finding out that a big deal has been made and it’s been a long time I think since I had the feeling that I had when this trade went down uh I mean the eel

Trade is a similar type of feeling um I guess but really when you’re getting something to be excited about Brandon mour is the last time that you really talk about something like that where the Sabers at least could get the best player in the trade but anyways

This deal I’ll get to the risk involved and I also want to get to the long-term impact in the sabers lineup both middlest stad going out and Byam coming in I think have a big impact on both the forward depth chart in the future and the blue line but I still think we’re

Talking about a lot of positives here with this type of deal we knew this was the type of trade that they’ve needed to make middle stat getting paid another centerman getting paid behind cousins and Thompson he’s a good player is he an elite player no you know what he is at

This point and you’ve got to clear room because you’ve already got Payton Krebs blocked on the fourth line and you’ve got a lot of guys behind that so that part of the deal always made sense the defenseman part of the trade always made sense because you’ve got Dalene who has already established

Himself as a number one defenseman power you’re pretty sure because of the draft status and the talent that he’ll become a top four defenseman if not top pair defenseman and then samelson has looked like a top four defenseman at times and other times hasn’t Ryan Johnson looks like someone that should develop into

That but you’ve only really got two even if I want to call call power this sure things in the top four you could use another top four defenseman sure you might like it on the right side but here’s Byam a left shot shot defenseman

But a top four guy if he is healthy that will’ll get you with the risk but I just want to give credit where credits to we’ve wondered this about Kevin Adams can he get a deal like this done this is a real hockey trade this is a swing it

Is not the biggest trade that Adams has made that would be the iel trade but it’s the biggest swing that Adams has made you know there was a large sentiment that he had to make the eel trade he had to make the Reinhardt trade because Reinhardt had a lot of Leverage

And could leave in a year the Rolan trade he had to make because Rolan even though he should have been off the team long before that and there were play reasons why to trade him even if you wanted to keep him you weren’t going to be able to because he was an upcoming

Free agent so you had to trade ristan there was no swing there you had to trade Reinhardt and you probably had to trade eel so none of those I would really qualify as a swing because you had to do it or you put yourself in a position where you had to

Do it this was a deal where it’s a core piece of the trade it’s a core or core piece of the team in Casey mdat it’s a friend of everyone on the team you know he’s best buds with rasma Dalene and I’m sure with everybody else on that roster

It’s a guy that has done everything thing you’ve asked right middle stat I mean they’ve talked about that if you develop into what we want and you work hard then we’re going to reward you and we’re going to pay you this was a separation from that in the name of

Making the team better middlest stat had worked hard worked at his craft became a real NHL player he had played a lot of games in the NHL probably before he should have there was definitely time needed spent in Rochester that was not spent go look at a picture of Casey

Midat during his first three seasons with the team he’s a string beam I mean the viral picture of him at the combine way back when always goes viral because he just you can’t do a pull-up and he looks unbelievable trying to do a pull-up uh unbelievably funny trying to

Do a pull-up the guy got pushed off the puck the guy was not physically ready to be in the NHL he fanned on pucks all the time he just wasn’t ready and he went from string bean playing like a little boy out there to dog da AWG I called him

That several times during this season he went from maybe the easiest player to push off the puck in the league to he was legitimately hard in the last two years to get off the puck he would he would work the boards he would keep and

Hang on to it he would utilize his hands he definitely put muscle on a lot of muscle on but so he would fend them off with his with his with his body and he would use his hands differently than he did in high school and coming into the league originally middle World Juniors

He would have used his hands more in the open ice and then he started transition to oh no no I I I’m good in tight spaces I’m gonna work these defenseman they are not going to get the puck off my stick and he really developed into that developed into a great playmaker you

Know the last two years are the big years I mean seven years years he played parts that’s incredible right Casey midd played parts of seven different seasons with the Buffalo Sabers and in those seven seasons he had 186 points6 of the 186 came in the last two

Seasons most of his production came in the last two years but he did the job and it sure must have been hard to say goodbye to a guy that did everything you asked it developed into the player you would have been dreaming about him developing into at when Adams and Grado

Took over but it made more sense to move him and you can’t you know you’re a business you’re a sports you’re a you’re a sports business and you’ve got to make tough decisions he’s close with the players he’s done everything he asked you gotta throw all that to the Wayside

In the name of making your team better and I think that is exactly what they’re trying to do here I don’t think it was easy for Adams to make that deal you got to negotiate and he did one thing that I’ve said in the last couple weeks is is

Not likely which is convince a contending team that they should trade for Casey middlest stat at the deadline trade a player out of their top four that plays 20 minutes a night convince a team that’s high in the standings to trade a guy that plays 20 minutes a

Night they found that they found that team they found Colorado Colorado I mean they were with willing so I guess you got to give thef the you know sign a thank you card to the Avalanche they were willing to trade an important piece off their roster heading into the

Playoffs quickly the reason Colorado makes this deal and good for Casey midad middlest develop for the sabes he’s gonna go be the second line Center on one of the best teams in hockey heading into the postseason so good luck to him and I think it’s a great opportunity for

Him you know it’s a better team than the sabers right now it’s a better atmosphere and it’s a better role he’s the number two Center behind Nathan McKinnon instead of kind of being the Quasi third centerman behind Thompson and cousins good for Middle stat Colorado did this deal because they need

Center help they lost JT compur to the Red Wings a couple of years ago um out of their Center depth chart which was a big loss for for them um and if you look at their their lineup right now here here are their four centerman before middle setat arrives McKinnon at number

One Elite amazing Ross Colton number two Jean Luke fod number three and Chris Wagner number four uh middle stat is sorely needed in that in that uh in the top six uh by a lot meanwhile in the blue line Devon Tay is developed into a great top pair defenseman so they don’t

Need bu to play top pair Samuel Gerard is a very good top defenseman so he’s good and joshh Manson plays in the top four there and he’s good so the top four they just didn’t really need it I’m kind of mad at myself actually that I never

Thought of this trade idea I’m kind of mad at myself that I never found this deal because it makes total sense Colorado desperately needed a second line Center and they had this young promising upside bow and Byam defenseman that could be playing a bigger role but he doesn’t necessarily need too because

They have four other good defensemen I’m mad at myself that I didn’t see this deal but that’s why Kevin Adams is the GM and I’m not I mean he’s got you know a staff that helps find these things uh and I do not so uh but whatever he’s the

GM and he found the deal and I think Adams deserves credit for taking a swing and you can’t say an action for the next at least couple of months he there’s action we’ve been wanting action on some level you can’t criticize him for making a deal when we’ve been begging for it

Little bit on byon when we come back as a risk and then the upside what are the Sabers getting in their new defenseman bow and bym that’s coming up here on the locked on Sabers podcast we are presented by sleeper it is not going well in the standings for Buffalo they

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National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and it’s now available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app the Savers trade Casey middle stat to the Colorado Avalanche for uh for Bowen Byam here’s what I really like about Bowen Byam Bowen Byam is a top

Four defenseman for the most part when he’s healthy he is a high upside player he is still only 22 years old was the fourth overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft the talent level is is high fourth overall pick from the Avalanche a few years ago he has been when he’s been at

His best the number three defenseman in Colorado he has usually played behind kale marar of course Devon Tay at times especially this season and other times Samuel Samuel Gerard who has been a stud defenseman as well in the Stanley Cup finals two years ago Byam was great and

He was their number three defenseman by ice time by a lot ma Gerard were way up top Byrum was right around 20 minutes and then nobody else was above like 18 and a half he was the number three defenseman on a team that won the

Stanley Cup and he did that at age 20 there are other remember defenseman typically take a little longer than forwards do at least that that narrative is out there I guess you know I could always look into to see if that’s still true but that’s been said a lot and he

Did that at age 20 he was great in the finals and he was an important piece of Colorado Stanley Cup victory in the past years one through three as a 19 20 and 21 year old which is going up to last year he was a dynamic Puck mover Dynamic

Skater skill all over the place you just see it great at scoring goals for a defenseman he especially is a defenseman that loves to jump up in the rush because of his speed he’s got speed he’s got hands and he’s got a nice shot like on all levels he’s a very skilled

Defenseman he scored 26 goals Once Upon a Time in the WHL which of the junior leagues is probably the most defensive and as a defenseman he scored 26 goals in that League now when you look at his numbers for his career 23 goals in 146 games okay that’s pretty good by for an

82 game Pace should have done this math beforeand let’s see 82 out of 146 so we’re talking about a guy that is like 13 goals a year as a defenseman so that’s good that’s that’s easily second best on the sabes behind Rasmus Dalene he has definitely made

Rides in his own end leading into last year last year I mean he played up to 22 minutes a night for Colorado um but what then happened and the reason the big reason why this player is even available for the Sabers to get it’s two things a down year this

Year that might be led by the second reason which is concussions we have a bit of a concussion scare here with this player it is definitely worth pointing out it is definitely worth thinking about and it is definitely a risk that you are acquiring a player this young in

His career that has a a concussion history already concussions though are hard to predict for some guys it can completely derail their career Tim Connelly how about a more recent example Nolan Patrick just had to retire from the league in his 20s because of concussion issues other guys he they have multiple

Concussions Sydney Crosby and then you just never think about it again Sydney Crosby had multiple concussions we were wondering if that would derail his career didn’t and we forget about it so hard to predict you never really know but it’s certainly a risk that is baked into the fact that Byam was available

Because let’s be real if Byrum didn’t have a concussion history you’re not getting him for Casey midad mid midd st’s a good player but middle stat is a we I think we know what he is we know at the highest ceiling what he is he’s about a 60p point player

Which is very good but that’s like a second line Center at best here’s why I like the bym move Byam has already proven himself at times to be a top four defenseman what’s the upside for Bowen Byrum it’s a star defenseman it really is it’s a number one defenseman now I

Don’t think he’ll ever overtake Rasmus Dalene for that you know that hierarchy but I think that potential is in there for Bowen Byrum it was there when they drafted him he’s always had to play second fiddle to kale Mar again I’m not saying that it’ll be different here with

Ras mallene above him but always limited role doesn’t play a lot of power play minutes because of kale ma again I do recognize that that will be Dalene but this is an offensive defenseman that’s been behind K Mar that can bleed into why the numbers aren’t even higher than

What you’ve seen more so for the assists the goal scoring numbers have been there the assists are really the thing that have not been there for bow and Byrum so I think there’s a real upside here if concussions don’t derail his career and the Sabers max out the potential he’s a

We’re talking about a guy that comes in over top of Owen power’s best I I really I’m I’m not I’m not being flippant there power has a lot of the steady type of defensive skills Byam is electric you you’ll see when you see him with a head

Of steam with the puck the dude’s electric he can make plays that I think Owen power is not capable of even if he hits his potential uh Dalene maybe is po is is capable but I think that we’re getting you’re getting a very good player in Bowen byon a great player that

Has Elite type of ceiling but you got the risk of the concussions if you didn’t want concussion history for Casey midad you could have traded him for an average player but let’s be real the Sabers have to take swings they have to take risks I’d rather have a guy that

Has risk but has a lot of upside than trading middle staff for an average second pair guy that you know exactly what you’re getting and you’re he’s never going to get any better but he’s also not going to get any worse I’d rather have Byam now the other thing

About Byam that’s a risk is that he’s not playing well this season in 55 games he’s actually been kind of bad his War numbers wins above replacement I mean he’s in the single digit percentile in the NHL for defenseman and maybe part of that is concussions his ice time has

Gone down in the last couple of months a lot um part of that could be role as I mentioned Colorado has four other defensemen that they trust to play above them not just one like the Sabres probably have right now so Ro could be a

Part of it I don’t know if coaching’s a part of it but but there is skill on display here you have to hope this is a one-off this season you have to hope the concussions stay away and if those two things end up being true then I think

The sabes have a have the upper hand of winning this trade over the Colorado Avalanche great player in terms of the talent level I’m real excited about it now how does Byam factor in to the long-term picture for the Savers we’ll tell you about the contract the depth

Chart as he now into it and does it matter that he’s a left shot defenseman all coming up here on the lock down Sabers podcast we are presented by eBay Motors passion drive and patience which brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay

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Bo Byam all right I think we’re going to be running with Bo by the way just rolls off the tongue a little bit easier Bo Byrum rather than bow and Byam uh so Byam 6 foot one 190 pounds he is a left shot defenseman he has this year and next year on his

Contract at $3.85 million and then he is a restricted free agent so cost control lot of cost control control lot of ability to keep this player around didn’t have a no trade clause because you’re trading for a guy that is still very early on his career another good

Idea to be targeting guys like that Byron by the way I failed to mention I think buddies with Dylan cousins and uh pton Krebs I’m only saying that because I know they were drafted together all went the first round in 2019 uh Byron went fourth cousins went seventh and

Middle and uh Krebs went I believe 17th um all played together at the world juniors for Team Canada That season and I’m just going to throw it out there I have seen people on Twitter throw out there that there are pictures of these guys over the years on Instagram alt

Together with their their girlfriends or wives so you know they’ve hung out off the ice they’ve played together before they’ve been drafted together um getting guys that have connections to the team is going to make it easier for you to acquire players with Talent that’s just the reality of the business so Byrum

Left shot does that matter I I don’t think it does I think any complaint about another left shot defenseman is you just don’t want to give proper credit to this idea and but here’s what I really mean what I like about this is that it allows Rasmus Dalene to stay put

On the right side Dalene I I think I feel comfortable calling it his natural position before the NHL when he became this generational defensive prospect in Sweden Dalene played on the right side he has talked about over the years why he is more comfortable why he likes

Playing on the right side it opens up different types of passing angles through the neutral zone that are not available to you if you’re if your back is to the middle of the ice and you are along the Wall playing your the left side so offensively I think it opens

Things up for Dal I don’t think it’s a coincidence he became a generation Prospect playing on the right and I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that the year he played the most on the right side was last season when he played on the right with Samuelson playing on the

Left those those two played together the whole year and you know except for when samelson got injured and they never separated and Dalene played on the right mostly almost entirely and that was his best season in the NHL he was a Norris Trophy candidate going into the going into the the spring so

He was at his best in the NHL on the right he was at his best before the NHL on the right just play him on the right and don’t touch it that to me is what I would do with Dalene so then I got one side of the right done I’ve got Yoki

Haru for the time being I got another guy on the right and I think it’s a little bit over talked about in the first place Byam though because he’s also offensive like dalen and has the skating ability the passing ability he’s played the left and the right this year

Actually he’s played more on the right and I saw J fresh hockey on Twitter who does uh the like the hockey cards the analytics uh some of that stuff on Twitter he broke down Byrum’s numbers as a left shot on the left and Byrum’s numbers on the right and Byam is a

Little bit better this season on the right than he’s been on the left so maybe even Byam is the answer for who could be your second pair right shot defenseman I’m just not overly worried about it though yeah it’s kind of weird it is it’s kind of weird that of the Sabers top

Five defensemen in the organization dine power Byam Samuelson Ryan Johnson all five are left shots it is a little weird I’m just not overly worried about it and I think it allows Dalene to play the side that he is better at now the way I see things going forward you can do a

Bunch of different combinations let me know what you think text them in on our SA lockdown Sabers text line I think dalen’s on the right what do you think for the future Owen power now as his left shot guy on the top pair do you put

Byam up there with Dalene and just go all out offense for your top pair do you put Ryan Johnson up there and then pair power with Byam on the second pair I think there’s a lot of possibilities that this opens up for the future defense pairings with Byam now in the

Fold another legit top four defenseman the other thing this trade does for the long-term depth chart is what it does for the sabes at Center I don’t really think they’re losing much for Casey midat I think they have more than enough options to replace his production so

Middle stat developed into a legit top six center that was playing probably below his weight as a third line center for the last two years I’m just doing a general I know at times he’s played Top Line but for for conversation say third line Center behind cousins and

Thompson what are the odds that one of pton Krebs Yuri Kulik Matt seavoy Noah osland end up becoming as good as Casey midad is right now I think the odds are like in the 90 percents in percentiles like we’re talking pretty darn likely I just I just need one of the four

To become that player you’ve got Krebs who I’ve been arguing for a while is a third line Center at least that is playing down as a fourth line Center because he’s got guys ahead of him and that’s not his fault and I am very excited at the possibility that Don

Granado is finally going to put pton Krebs in a top nine role with good players around him for the rest of the season Krabs is or down in Rochester seavo is and juniors Oland is over in Sweden none of those guys are getting here right now the next month

And a half should be all about playing Payton Krabs with skilled players in Casey middle stats role and seeing how much you get out of them because it’s very possible to me and I would predict Krebs is just gonna be your answer he is going to be Casey middle stats

Replacement and he’s GNA do just fine and I think he can actually put up the numbers that middle stat has which is goal scoring in the teens and assists in the 40s I think Krebs is capable of that if he plays with two good Wingers but if

He doesn’t you’ve got Kik you got seavoy you’ve got Olen just need one of them the rest of them either become Wingers or we’ll trade you away I think they’re in really good shape to replace Casey middle stat I guess it could open up a conversation about uh someone else to

Get paid this offseason we have more time to get to that JJ petka uh probably a guy to talk about here Luc and of course um we don’t have the conversation about paying Casey Milstead anymore um but again there will be other players that will fill that void so on all

Fronts my summary I like this trade a lot and I like that we have a trade it it makes it seem like the Sabers are trying but also they know it’s it’s re you know what it is it’s recognition that this isn’t working even if you don’t like the trade and for

Whatever reason that is maybe you don’t like the concussions maybe you really got held up on the left shot versus right shot thing whatever it is if you don’t like the trade I think you’d at least have to give the Sabers that they are admitting that this isn’t working

And they were willing to trade away an important player that is loved in that room that is done everything they’ve asked because it’s just not working the results are just just not there all right that’s going to do it for us today here on the lock on Sabers podcast more

On this trade I want to get more of your reaction and on this trade onto our next show so you can tweet us at lockdown Sabers but I’ll definitely be looking first into that into our texts uh if you want to sign up go to join sub.com loock

On saers Sabers and leafs we’ll be talking about that game next uh Nashville as well we got a back to back here and we got the deadline on Friday so keep it locked lots of deadline reaction uh coming your way in the next couple of days thanks for listening here

In the lockdown Sabers podcast be sure to check out lockdown sports today the first ever National Sports TW 24/7 streaming Channel on YouTube and it’s now available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app talk to you next time here on the locked on Sabers podcast

The Sabres have finally made a big trade, sending Casey Mittelstadt to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Bowen Byram! Sneaky Joe takes a deep dive into Byram’s game, who he says has tons of upside, but isn’t without risk. Is Byram capable of being a top-pair defenseman for a long time?

Plus, what Casey Mittelstadt’s departure means for the Sabres at center long-term.

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