No. 4 pick Byram could make an immediate impact in NHL
Bowen Byram treats anxiety and pressure like they don’t exist. He recognizes fear as would a combatant, merely something to conquer.
For the first defenseman selected in the 2019 NHL draft, but one thing is clear: Byram oozes with the type of confidence that might allow the 18-yearold to play at hockey’s highest level next season and become a franchise defenseman down the road.
The Avs selected Byram with the No. 4 overall selection in the recent NHL draft. By doing so, Colorado passed on elite forwards in continuing its plan to build from the back end. The Avs need more immediate help up front but Byram was deemed too good at his position to pass on.
Byram was born June 13, 2001 — four days after the Avalanche won its second Stanley Cup — but he carries himself like a seasoned 20-something veteran.
“I’m a pretty comfortable guy. I’m pretty sociable. I seem to find a way to fit in usually — wherever I am,” Byram said at the Avs’ development camp. “That definitely helps, walking into a room with a bunch of new faces and then having to compete with them, and play with them.”
Chances are good that Byram walks into a room with Avalanche all-stars Nathan Mackinnon, Gabe Landeskog, and Mikko Rantanen to begin training camp in September and sticks with the big club all season. He’ll likely have a nine-game NHL audition with the Avs, who will have a choice of keeping Byram all season or sending him back to his junior team, the Vancouver Giants, before his 10th NHL game.
Giants goalie Trent Miner, whom the Avs selected in the seventh round on June 23, is betting that Byram’s junior career is over. As much as he’d love to continue to play with Byram in Vancouver, Miner sees him making a seamless transition with the Avs.
“He’s a 200-foot guy, and in the D-zone, he so comfortable,” Miner said. “Nothing will set him off. From the start of the game to the end of the game, he holds himself together well. He doesn’t get worked up. He’s evenkeeled. Lots of confidence — but not in arrogance. He has the confidence to make plays. And he knows what to do.”
Byram, 6-foot, 194 pounds, had 26 points in 22 playoff games last season, becoming the first defenseman to lead the Western Hockey League in postseason scoring. In the regular season, he was third among WHL defenseman in points (71) and first in goals (26) and game-winning goals (nine). His 26 goals were a Giants record, previously held by Kevin Connauton (24), whom the Avs acquired from Arizona last week.
Byram also scored a Whl-record six overtime goals — an extraordinary accomplishment for a defenseman.
Eliteprospects.com dubs Byram, “An exceptionally gifted defenceman who knows his strengths and plays by them. He possesses elite skating ability and is at his best when playing high energy, up-tempo hockey. He handles the puck well and is able to keep control of it under pressure. He makes calculated decisions that consistently shift momentum in his team’s favor. His creativity in the offensive zone speaks to his confidence in his ability to be a gamechanger.
“Defensively astute, he actively takes away lanes and limits options for the oncoming opposition. Allin-all, Bowen Byram is a workhorse who understands how to take advantage of turnovers and shift the pace of play in his favor in all three zones.”
A left-handed shot, Byram might be the Avs’ ideal future pairing partner with Cale Makar, the 2019 Hobey Baker Award winner who made his NHL debut with the Avalanche in the playoffs. Makar, the No. 4 overall pick from the 2017 draft, is a righty.
“I’ve heard such great things about him,” Makar, 20, said of Byram.