Trade Reaction – Sabres Acquire Bowen Byram From Avalanche For Casey Mittelstadt

Trade Reaction – Sabres Acquire Bowen Byram From Avalanche For Casey Mittelstadt

Hello everybody and welcome into a trade deadline reaction video here at the hockey Riders I’m your host Matthew zor and I am joined in by jaob strosek of the Buffalo Sabers writing team here at the hockey writers um Jacob I mean were you expect expecting a trade like this H Casey

Midad going to the Colorado Avalanche for Bowen Byrum one for one definition of a hockey trade right I mean I two players both NHL players one middle is obviously a bit I don’t know midad older than Byrum I think yeah Middle’s 25 Byrum’s 22 Yeah so I mean it is a hockey

Trade you got both sides getting something uh first of all your reaction to this trade uh lots happening in the NHL today I you’d think it’s deadline day it’s not it’s a couple days away but uh what do you think about this trade for the

Savers I mean I’ll be honest I know we talked about it before I wasn’t fully expecting Kevin Adams to make a big splash trade in general but this is the definition of a big splash trade he traded their top Point scorer for this season in Casey middle stat for a young

Top four defenseman which is something that I was really hoping for uh I’ve been saying it for at least the start of this season if not at the end of last season I was like if you’re not going to Reign middle stat trade him and get something of value get

A player that’s actually going to be able to make a difference on your roster and I can’t say I’m disappointed in the return at all Byrum’s a good two-way defenseman the only you know issue or maybe concern you can say is the the injury history with concussions or

Whatever but he’s been fairly healthy throughout the past two years so I wouldn’t say it’s a a massive concern it’s a mild concern more than anything I like the trade overall and I I really want to see how it’s going to play out based off of how these teams are built I

Think it’s kind of interesting now well the thing is is like Byam played 55 games the most he’s played in the NHL season I eight goals 20 assists I mean decent production last season he had 24 points uh 10 goals in 42 games uh previous Seasons I mean yeah he’s dealt

With the the concussions and this is his first season where he’s hasn’t act dealt with uh a lot of injuries I believe he’s been hurt uh he hasn’t played the full season he’s pretty close I believe I couple minor ones yeah a couple minor game I mean sitting out a couple games

So nothing nothing major so it’s it looks like that concussions are past him but the thing is I that can happen any time a bad hit I and it’s unfortunate because he has had a couple already so hopefully it it doesn’t happen again as

He is he’s only 22 years old he’s got a lot of potential still in the NHL and he’s already shown quite a bit uh for how young he is H and he is that prototypical H offensive defenseman he can be a two-way guy too unfortunately he doesn’t he doesn’t uh feel that need

Of a right shot defenseman that the Sabers have so they’ve added another leftand guy to already rasman stalen and Owen power so they’ve got a pretty good uh a really strong left side the thing is do you think Byron will play on his offs side are they going to move Dalene

Over are they going to move you know power what do you see going forward with this defense group because or you just going to see them go that left side on on every pairing no I don’t think he would get his own I I think he’d get paired with

Either uh Power or Dalene or another idea that I I was considering because Granado likes to in certain scenarios put uh Doan and power together so maybe this is his opportunity to stick the two of them together as a pairing on a more regular basis because they both kind of

Interchange between both sides and it doesn’t really seem to affect the other and then maybe Byam runs uh the the second pair with Yoki Haru or Clifton or whoever he decides is the best to uh to pair him with but the it it gives them more options especially with uh Matias

Samson still out for the rest of the season now that spot is filled up with somebody who can actually hold that position and play it well so it gives a little bit more flexibility on the back end I think yeah because Byrum has on the Avalanche he he played quite a bit H

Quite a bit of minutes I and that you know he’s playing obviously playing behind kale marar he’s gonna be playing behind Rasmus tallene now so he’s not going to have to run the show and that’s probably a good thing H for him so I think it’s a good trade too

I mean it’s something that kind of came out of left field I don’t think byon was rumored to be on any trade block for the Avalanche at obviously they’ve wanted a second line Center for a long time since nazm cadri left I you know on middle stat do you believe that is something

That he can do for the Avalanche I mean he was playing in the top six in Buffalo what do you see him bringing to the Avalanche is he that second line Center for them or or do they still need to be looking no I I think he fills that role

Perfectly for them he doesn’t have to be the guy he’s not going to have to jump up into their first line and you know try and be Nathan McKinnon because he doesn’t have to be and he can just be himself the good playmaking second line

Center that he can play he can play Wing as well so if they have someone else that uh maybe feels that spot they can use him there he’s very usable on a power play he’s strong in the corners this season has been very noticeable for his strength that he’s been showing he

Does a lot of work along the walls and he’s very very tough to knock off the puck and I think that’s going to play out really well in the west especially for the Avalanche in the playoffs maintaining possession is Middle stats game this season and I think it’s going

To be huge for them and I mean huge yeah I and that’s the one thing the Avalanche they were you know were talking about them going after Henrik H they went after a guy that’s going to be their long term and that’s probably a better thing for them rather than going

For a guy that may only be here for this season or next H and you know he’s he’s part of the core now I think um and he is he’s a really good player I mean he’s got 14 goals 47 points this season pretty good production after that 59

Point Season last season I he’s trending up and I think the Sabres did a really good job moving him at this point for a really good uh player that again is going to be part of their core moving forward uh on defense so yeah I don’t

Know it’s it’s a good deal for both sides win-win doesn’t happen very often least one one for one trades but this one seems to be a win for both sides yeah and to to Buffalo’s credit they have a lot of depth down the middle they have a lot of players that they’re

Really looking to try and up into the lineup and they’re struggling to find spots for those players even with injuries eventually Jack Quinn’s going to come back and he’s going to need to spot in the top six they’ve been trying to move Payton Krebs up in the lineup

For a long time now but he’s been blocked by the fact that he’s overshadowed by middle stat cousins Thompson and uh even petka if he was going to play Wing so it’s tough for him to move up into that spot with middle stack getting moved now kreb should

Hopefully get that opportunity to jump up to the Third line and be in a more offensive role rather than that fourth line bruising checking role which he’s good at but I think he’d be better in an upward moving position and looking towards next season it gives them a spot

To maybe bring up a yeari cool like bring up a Matt seavoy to put into their lineup on you know that third line basis to break them into the NHL like they would hope yeah it it does give a lot more flexibility in the system too you got

Matt sooy Center you got H Zach Benson is a center I don’t know if he’s going to be playing Center his career because of his size but he plays mostly Wing now yeah so that that’s that was anticipated for for him I it’s it’s a good deal I

Mean I don’t know I I I don’t have any problems with it at all it does it does create a lot more for them on the forward group their defense gets better I obviously not this season I mean they are probably not making the playoffs it is pretty pretty uh sure that they

Probably won’t be I and bym is signed till 24 after the 20242 season at 3.85 which is not a bad contract either so yeah all in all a good deal for for the Sabers now before before I let you go there um what do you see the Sabers

Doing now is this it or got some other guys they got Greenway has been talked about you got KY poso has kind of been in the the trade rumors too do you see Kevin Adams doing anything else before March 8th I would hope that there’s

Still a couple of moves left uh out of him for one you have to move Eric Johnson get him not not off the team for any toxic reasons or what or whatever just move him along because you want somebody of his age to have another shot

At another Stanley Cup and to keep going at the tail end of his career move him to a playoff team get whatever you can in return even if it’s a six seventh round pick who cares just move him along you have plenty of defenseman you can

Keep moving up uh aoso I think is an interesting topic I’m not I’m not fully convinced that he’ll get moved because he likes it here Kevin Adams likes having him here and likes having him around the group so if he gets traded it’s solely because somebody made him an

Offer that he was like yeah I kind of got to take that I don’t think he’s just going to toss him away for a low round pick um and if he does it’ll be because aoso went yeah I want to go there I want to see if I can win something there that

It would more be at his request than anything else so I don’t see much movement the only other player I could see Adams moving out would be Victor Olson he hasn’t really had much of a a role on this team uh anymore since he kind of lost his spot to Zach Benson so

Moving him out giving him a new place uh before he becomes the UFA I think is a good idea just move along I don’t think it’s any more big moves on the horizon but a few smaller ones just to kind of clean house and get ready for the off

Season oh you never know though I mean this one wasn’t anticipated I know you mentioned middle stad I know you mentioned middle stad in the our preview show that he could potentially be moved but I don’t think anyone anticipated a guy like bym coming back in return for

Him because by’s one of the better young defenseman in the NHL and he I don’t know if the L was just you know we got to move on we got we we need that second line Center because they do have a pretty good defense core even without

Him H it’s it’s an interesting it was an interesting trade so I mean some of these surprises come around the deadline too so I we’ll see we’ll see what happens with the Sabers uh before the clock strikes uh three on uh yeah three three I’m like think of okay I’m not

Noon noon in my time but yeah no time uh 3:00 on the 8th so thanks Jacob uh for coming on and talking about this trade and maybe we’ll have you on again we’ll see we’ll see what other trades come about but uh make sure check out all of

Our our trade articles we have news pieces reaction trade grades after every trade there’s already one out for the buum middle stad deal so check that out make sure you’re following us on YouTube here we’re going to be putting up these reaction videos as well got uh some full

Recap uh episodes coming up too so make sure checking all that out and but until next time we’ll see you on another reaction video on the hockey Raiders YouTube channel here

Host Matthew Zator is joined by Buffalo Sabres writer Jacob Strozyk to react to the Sabres acquiring Bowen Byram from the Colorado Avalanche for Casey Mittelstadt. They also discuss what is next for general manager Kevyn Adams before the trade deadline on March 8.

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