Byram has packed up his house and will be moved: After the Whistle

[Sabres Fan in NS]

So, the Avs dumped Casey and looks like the Sabres may be dumping Byram.

Begs the question - who is the dumbest GM in the NHL ??

Looks like a tie.

[LGR4GM]

23 minutes ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

So, the Avs dumped Casey and looks like the Sabres may be dumping Byram.

Begs the question - who is the dumbest GM in the NHL ??

Looks like a tie.

Byram is worth more than Mittelstadt 

[JohnC]

17 minutes ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

So, the Avs dumped Casey and looks like the Sabres may be dumping Byram.

Begs the question - who is the dumbest GM in the NHL ??

Looks like a tie.

Which GM regularly has his team in the playoffs? Which GM regularly has a team that is usually a Cup contending team? 
 

It was rather quickly recognized that Mitts was not working out in Colorado. The GM then took a corrective action in short order. That’s how a smart and flexible GM works.
 

Maybe you should reconsider your assessment? 

[shrader]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Byram is worth more than Mittelstadt 

And you have to at least see what both sides get if/when they dump. The Colorado side is written but not ours. 

[JohnC]

58 minutes ago, shrader said:

And you have to at least see what both sides get if/when they dump. The Colorado side is written but not ours. 

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Byram saga plays out? Will he be kept or dealt? If kept, what will his contract be? If dealt, what will be the return?

Just my opinion, I think he will be dealt. But I don’t know what his market value is because of his contract status. Intriguing off-season issue.

[Carmel Corn]

3 hours ago, JohnC said:

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Byram saga plays out? Will he be kept or dealt? If kept, what will his contract be? If dealt, what will be the return?

Just my opinion, I think he will be dealt. But I don’t know what his market value is because of his contract status. Intriguing off-season issue.

GMKA will get fleeced…that or overpay to retain him

[Pimlach]

15 hours ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

So, the Avs dumped Casey and looks like the Sabres may be dumping Byram.

Begs the question - who is the dumbest GM in the NHL ??

Looks like a tie.

I see it the opposite.  The Avs GM got a piece they really needed at the time, but sacrificed a better piece that he had in a position of excess.  Improve the roster and win right now was his goal.  When the Avs GM saw that the guy he acquired was not up to par he easily moved him for a more proven veteran.  

Meanwhile the Sabres GM admitted he didn’t know how to use the player that he acquired because they have similar skilled players on big contracts at the same position.  The Sabres GM never filled a real need, created a new hole, and failed to improve his team.  At least he gets a shot at trading Byram to hopefully add a player we need but the trade made for a better player has not improved the team. 

[JohnC]

43 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I see it the opposite.  The Avs GM got a piece they really needed at the time, but sacrificed a better piece that he had in a position of excess.  Improve the roster and win right now was his goal.  When the Avs GM saw that the guy he acquired was not up to par he easily moved him for a more proven veteran.  

Meanwhile the Sabres GM admitted he didn’t know how to use the player that he acquired because they have similar skilled players on big contracts at the same position.  The Sabres GM never filled a real need, created a new hole, and failed to improve his team.  At least he gets a shot at trading Byram to hopefully add a player we need but the trade made for a better player has not improved the team. 

As you point out, the Colorado GM made a player judgment and trade decision based on a roster construction and team need considerations. The trade decision wasn't simply based on an individual talent question as it was about rounding out a team i.e. making the team better. It seems whenever KA makes a personnel decision he doesn't look at from a broader perspective of how to make the team better. He sees pieces as individual entities instead of seeing how they fit together.  He's a checkers player in a chess match. 

[Pimlach]

45 minutes ago, JohnC said:

As you point out, the Colorado GM made a player judgment and trade decision based on a roster construction and team need considerations. The trade decision wasn't simply based on an individual talent question as it was about rounding out a team i.e. making the team better. It seems whenever KA makes a personnel decision he doesn't look at from a broader perspective of how to make the team better. He sees pieces as individual entities instead of seeing how they fit together.  He's a checkers player in a chess match. 

In fairness I think he has tried.  Rumor was he was after Pesce a few years ago (a very solid RHD) but they could not get a deal done.   Seems to be too little and too late more often than not.  

Edited yesterday at 01:38 PM by Pimlach

[JohnC]

5 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

In fairness I think he has tried.  Rumor was it he was after Pesce a few years ago (a very solid RHD) but they could not get a deal done.   Seems to be too little and too late more often than not.  

When discussing trades, a number of options are explored before a deal is settled on. That's the nature of most trade transactions. You consider option A, B, C etc. Negotiating a deal isn't a quick and neat process. As you point out, there are a lot of factors and considerations that impinge on what you want to do. Most often, you settled for what you can get instead of what you want. That's the mix-bag nature of the GM position. It's unreasonable to judge a GM on any one particular deal because there are so many inhibiting factors that we are not aware of. The way to fairly judge a GM is his body of work over a period of time. On that longer time frame, KA is a dismal failure. His record is his record. The source of the failure is the owner who selected him to be the GM, and even worse kept him on way beyond the time it was evident that he wasn't up to the job. 

[LGR4GM]

KA lacks imagination and panics when plan A doesn't work out. 

[Thorny]

One thing we can comfortably say about Byram is he definitely played his minutes 

tl;dr : Dahlin and Tage are as good or better without Bowen, Bowen is putrid without them 

Edited 7 hours ago by Thorny

[dudacek]

13 minutes ago, Thorny said:

One thing we can comfortably say about Byram is he definitely played his minutes 

tl;dr : Dahlin and Tage are as good or better without Bowen, Bowen is putrid without them 

Cherry picking of one stat might give people a skewed view of things.

Unless you believe expected goals are more important than real goals.

[Thorny]

Just now, dudacek said:

Cherry picking of one stat might give people a skewed view of things.

Unless you believe expected goals are more important than real goals.

I’m also combining it with my limited viewing eye test and my distaste for the alliteration in his name 

[dudacek]

14 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I’m also combining it with my limited viewing eye test and my distaste for the alliteration in his name 

 

I personally can't recall a situation where a single stat has been used to whitewash one player at the expense of all other stats.

To a ton of people the only things that matter about Bowen Byram is that his expected goal numbers away from Rasmus Dahlin are considerably lower than with him and worst-case scenarios about his contract.

His actual goals for and against, his overall numbers, how dominant he has been with Dahlin, the quality of his other partners, how other partners do with Dahlin, how he compares to other 23-year-olds getting 1st pairing minutes, the amount of 1st-pairing minutes he effectively eats, the block shots numbers, the hit numbers, the even strength scoring numbers — irrelevant.

It's the worst case of blinders I can recall about a player on here since the old "Sam Reinhart is slow and falls down too much" days.

 

Edited 7 hours ago by dudacek

[Thorny]

12 minutes ago, dudacek said:

 

I personally can't recall a situation where a single stat has been used to whitewash one player at the expense of all others.

To a ton of people the only things that matter about Bowen Byram is that his expected goal numbers away from Rasmus Dahlin are considerably lower than with other players and worst-case scenarios about his contract.

His actual goals for and against, his overall numbers, how dominant he has been with Dahlin, the quality of his other partners, how he compares to other 23-year-olds getting 1st pairing minutes, the amount of 1st-pairing minutes he effectively eats, the block shots numbers, the hit numbers, the even strength scoring numbers — irrelevant.

It's the worst case of blinders I can recall about a player on here since the old "Sam Reinhart is slow and falls down too much" days.

 

The key speaking only for me is that yes he’s been good with Dahlin but Dahlin hasn’t benefited. Players don’t seem to benefit from him. The best argument for him then is that he isn’t bringing Tage and Dahlin down. Ie he’s pliable enough that the good of Dahlin is able to course through him and we see it in his numbers. But D who play well with Dahlin aren’t that uncommon, in fact that’s the MAIN extra benefit of having a 1st overall like Dahlin.

being good with good players is ok but it’s a far cry from being good with average players or even making good players better 

Which brings the contract into the conversation: we aren’t going to be able to pay him what he’s actually worth which I do know is an idea you are accounting for 

Edited 7 hours ago by Thorny

[dudacek]

5 minutes ago, Thorny said:

The key speaking only for me is that yes he’s been good with Dahlin but Dahlin hasn’t benefited. Players don’t seem to benefit from him. The best argument for him then is that he isn’t bringing Tage and Dahlin down. Ie he’s pliable enough that the good of Dahlin is able to course through him and we see it in his numbers. But D who play well with Dahlin aren’t that uncommon, in fact that’s the MAIN extra benefit of having a 1st overall like Dahlin.

being good with good players is ok but it’s a far cry from being good with average players or even making good players better 

Which brings the contract into the conversation: we aren’t going to want to pay him what he’s actually worth which I do know is an idea you are accounting for 

Dahlin has benefited hugely from Byram.

They have been the most effective first-pairing in the NHL: I believe it is something like 35 ES goals for, 15 against, playing against the other team's best players. I hope repeating this is starting to get annoying.

Those are real goals. Not imaginary ones.

Doesn't matter, I know. Dahlin will be at 70% with Samuelsson too. That 51% is probably a typo.

Edited 7 hours ago by dudacek

[Thorny]

12 minutes ago, dudacek said:

 

I personally can't recall a situation where a single stat has been used to whitewash one player at the expense of all other stats.

To a ton of people the only things that matter about Bowen Byram is that his expected goal numbers away from Rasmus Dahlin are considerably lower than with him and worst-case scenarios about his contract.

His actual goals for and against, his overall numbers, how dominant he has been with Dahlin, the quality of his other partners, how other partners do with Dahlin, how he compares to other 23-year-olds getting 1st pairing minutes, the amount of 1st-pairing minutes he effectively eats, the block shots numbers, the hit numbers, the even strength scoring numbers — irrelevant.

It's the worst case of blinders I can recall about a player on here since the old "Sam Reinhart is slow and falls down too much" days.

 

I don’t really like the Reinhart comp because Reinhart elevated Eichel demonstrably

Skinner would be a better comp. Skinner very much played well next to Eichel, didn’t drag him down, Jack was phenomenal in utilizing him (rebounds).. 

As you know: I’m the one guy who isn’t throwing skinner out there as a negative. But it’s not wholly a positive. But I wanted to keep skinner. And I’d keep Byram too if we can get the right price and we can’t trade him for better 

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Dahlin has benefited hugely from Byram.

They have been the most effective first-pairing in the NHL: I believe it is something like 35 ES goals for, 15 against, playing against the other team's best players.

Those are real goals. Not imaginary ones.

Doesn't matter, I know. Dahlin will be at 70% with Samuelsson too. That 51% is probably a typo.

Ya I mean once upon a time VO - Eichel - Skinner was the best ES possession line in hockey 

There was a stretch I remember it specifically 

[Thorny]

22 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I hope repeating this is starting to get annoying.

Those are real goals. Not imaginary ones.

Doesn't matter, I know. Dahlin will be at 70% with Samuelsson too. That 51% is probably a typo.

It’s not annoying at all. Frankly I sympathize greatly with it. This was me last summer with Skinner. I need to see an incredible argument to convince me the Buffalo Sabres are at a “just get rid of him” stage to see benefit, with pretty much *anyone*. The sabres are beyond little. 

its like in The Other Guys were he gives Will Ferrell’s character a flat wooden gun. I need to see this franchise not shoot itself in the foot with the most basic of tools before I trust their evaluations on much of anything 

[shrader]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

It’s not annoying at all. Frankly I sympathize greatly with it. This was me last summer with Skinner. I need to see an incredible argument to convince me the Buffalo Sabres are at a “just get rid of him” stage to see benefit, with pretty much *anyone*. The sabres are beyond little. 

its like in The Other Guys were he gives Will Ferrell’s character a flat wooden gun. I need to see this franchise not shoot itself in the foot with the most basic of tools before I trust their evaluations on much of anything 

Don’t underestimate them. They could shoot themselves in the foot with a wooden gun too. 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

Don’t underestimate them. They could shoot themselves in the foot with a wooden gun too. 

Well, shoot isn't QUITE the right word, but they could and likely would drop the wooden gun on their foot, break a metatarsal and also catch a splinter carrying the tetanus bacterium, and, well, the end result is they would've been better off just shooting a hole in the darn foot.

[mjd1001]

With Byram.... I'm still in somewhat of a purgatory with him. 

He's young, he's skilled, he has the potential to be very good I think. 

 But I don't think he's been all that special with the Sabres. He looks the part with his skating and raw talent, I just don't see them as being a better team when he's on the ice though yet.

[PerreaultForever]

On 5/11/2025 at 1:32 PM, Sabres Fan in NS said:

So, the Avs dumped Casey and looks like the Sabres may be dumping Byram.

Begs the question - who is the dumbest GM in the NHL ??

Looks like a tie.

Thing about the Avs (and maybe this keeps them from getting over the top again) is they are clearly a forward projecting team with the idea of staying competitive long term. Hence they move people out that they think will give them cap issues down the road. I'd guess they already knew Byram would exceed their payroll and since they already have Makar they chose a different direction. Mitts was a gamble (like Ottawa with Cozens) on the idea that players will be better when they escape Buffalo. He didn't fit and they swapped him out for what they saw as a better playoff 3rd line fit in Coyle. Coyle disappointed too so I guess that's failure. Adams? He just doesn't seem to have a clue one way or the other.