With Blues general manager Doug Armstrong on a roll, some NHL insiders are wondering if he could sustain that momentum by landing defenseman Bowen Byram too.
Armstrong has already given the blue line a facelift by sacrificing emerging winger Zack Bolduc in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens for defensive prospect Logan Mailloux.
In a companion move, the Blues offloaded veteran defenseman Nick Leddy and his final contract year to the San Jose Sharks on waivers. That shifted the demographics on the blue line, with young D-men Philip Broberg, Tyler Tucker, Matthew Kessel and Mailloux blending with veterans Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk and Cam Fowler.
Fowler will be entering the last year of his contract and the Blues piled up five defensive prospects in the 2023 and 2024 drafts. Two of them, Theo Lindstein and Adam Jiricek, could be ready to play some NHL games in 2026-27.
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So why has there been buzz about Byram?
He was the fourth overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. He battled concussions earlier in his career, but he emerged as a strong Top 4 defenseman in Buffalo last season while averaging nearly 23 minutes in ice time.
The Buffalo Sabres are making him available. That team has already invested heavily in Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power on the blue line and Byram is due for significant money as a restricted free agent.
Byram appears to be a prime candidate for an offer sheet, although Sabres GM Kevyn Adams insists he would match whatever came along.
But . . . the Sabres are one of the NHL鈥檚 most mistake-prone organizations. The franchise just accepted a light trade return from the Utah Mammoth for scoring winger JJ Peterka.
It鈥檚 easy to assume Armstrong sees opportunity there. After spending assets to acquire Broberg and Mailloux, though, could he assemble a trade package that would interest Buffalo?
The Blues would likely need to trade Faulk to create roster and salary cap space for Byram. The Sabres would prefer younger players, especially a top winger.
The Blues lack quality long-term depth on the wing after trading Bolduc. Had the Blues not landed Mailloux, then perhaps moving Jordan Kyrou (before his no-trade protection kicked in) for Byram and, say, young forward Jack Quinn could have made sense while Bolduc was still on the roster.
It's food for thought. As always, fans are free to construct their own hypothetical trades until something real happens with Byram.
Here is what folks have been writing about hockey:
Greg Wyshynski, : “NHL teams are usually bumping their heads up against the salary cap ceiling. This offseason, by comparison, was like walking into a cathedral. The NHL and NHLPA announced in January that the upper limit of the 2025-26 salary cap was going to be $95.5 million, a jump of $7.5 million over last season's cap ($88 million). But the financial comfort didn't stop there. The NHL also announced cap estimates for 2026-27 ($104 million) and 2027-28 ($113.5 million) that could grow higher depending on revenues. It was a genius labor negotiating tactic for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who quieted any rage against the machine by the players by showing them their potential salary growth if the current system was kept in place. It also gave their teams a chance to aggressively spend to improve their rosters under a rising cap. But instead of feeding a free agent frenzy, the increased financial flexibility created an opportunity for more players to stay home.”
Ryan Dixon, Sportsnet: 鈥淓verything on the periphery 鈥 from getting John Tavares on a sweetheart deal, to locking down Matthew Knies at a great AAV to getting at least something (in the form of Nicolas Roy) for (Mitch) Marner 鈥 has been good, but you can鈥檛 lose a player like Marner for nearly nothing and wake up the next day feeling great. The centrepiece of the Leafs' off-season may still be coming, but all we know for sure right now is they鈥檙e down one first-line player. Also, those 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 beat 鈥檈m, get 鈥檈m鈥 dreams of landing Brad Marchand or Aaron Ekblad are officially dashed. Toronto can play the long game, but it鈥檚 playing from behind right now.鈥
Harman Dayal, The Athletic: 鈥淎cquiring JJ Peterka without giving up the No. 4 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft was a home run. He鈥檚 another dynamic young star to add to Utah鈥檚 impressive collection of rush-attacking forwards. The Mammoth did solid work filling out depth roles by signing Nate Schmidt, Brandon Tanev and Vitek Vanecek at reasonable prices.鈥
Kristen Shilton, : “Carolina has been trying to add a scoring winger like (Nikolai) Ehlers long-term for over a year. Former GM Don Waddell brought in Jake Guentzel at the 2024 trade deadline to give the Hurricanes a boost, but Guentzel ultimately walked away in free agency. Then (GM Eric) Tulsky tried to improve the Hurricanes up front by acquiring Mikko Rantanen in a trade with Colorado in January. The partnership wasn't meant to be though, as Rantanen -- then a pending unrestricted free agent -- made it clear he wouldn't be re-signing with Carolina and so Tulsky was forced to trade him again (this time to the Stars). Tulsky had also tried to acquire then-Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner at the deadline, but Marner refused to waive his no trade clause to complete the transaction. The Hurricanes could have used the help from somewhere. Carolina was a top 10 team offensively in the 2024-25 regular season, averaging 3.24 goals per game, but that number dipped below three in the playoffs and Carolina struggled especially in the Eastern Conference final against Florida.”
Ryan Lambert, Elite Prospects: 鈥淭he Vancouver Canucks were in a similar situation to Florida. Losing聽Brock Boeser聽seemed in the cards 鈥 and indeed, in the team's own plans until Philadelphia outbid them for聽Christian Dvorak聽鈥 and the sound of doomsday clock ticking down to Quinn Hughes' UFA status in two summers was getting awful loud. So in a bid to stay, ahem, competitive and convince Hughes that actually it sucks to live in New Jersey and play with your brothers, the Canucks brought back Boeser (aided by a soft marker for the winger, no doubt) and also extended聽Thatcher Demko聽and聽Conor Garland. Total cap hit for those guys starting in 2026-26? The low, low price of $21.75 million. Like a quarter of the team's total cap. Which, I guess, isn't bad except they're all gonna be over 30 by then and we have no guarantee that Demko in particular is going to be any good at all. More to the point, though, how many times are the Canucks gonna try to get over the hump with this same group? Maybe the聽Elias Petterson extension necessitates it. Maybe they don't think, as most other people I talk about this with seem to, Hughes is a guaranteed goner. (They did let聽Pius Suter聽walk, but he apparently would have come back at a discount. Don't get that one!) But to me, these Canucks have been an abject failure 鈥 check the post-COVID regular-season and playoff records, if you disagree, and get back to me 鈥 and I both don't think聽Evander Kane聽is gonna help that much, and don't get why they're so desperate to not to let anyone walk.鈥
MEGAPHONE
鈥淎re there some advantages? Yes, but every city has certain advantages. In the end, it's 'are you successful?' Because that's going to open the door first when you're talking to players," he said. "When the money's the same, players want to win. That's the important thing. Nobody wanted to go to Florida for 10-12 years. Dallas, 15 years ago, was in bankruptcy. No one was coming here. So do the right things, be competitive, have a good team, that means you'll usually have a good fans base. Great weather, great city . . . 聽those are kind of the cherries on top. But the core of it was the hockey operations.鈥
Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill, on operating in a state with no state income tax.
