A Bowen Byram trade does not make any sense for the Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets would be foolish to acquire Bowen Byram from the Buffalo Sabres.
Buffalo Sabres v Philadelphia Flyers
Buffalo Sabres v Philadelphia Flyers | Mitchell Leff/GettyImages

We are at the point in the summer where there is nothing going on around the NHL. The Draft is over. Free agency is (mostly) finished. No real movement is going on because, well, most of the general managers around the league are probably on vacation. What this means: now is the time of year when rumors are thrown against the wall to see if they stick.

Google the words "Bowen Byram" and "Columbus Blue Jackets", either separately or together. You are bound to get abundant results in the form of trade rumors and ideas. On the most recent trade list thrown out by The Fourth Period, Byram is the #1 player listed; despite the fact that he just re-signed with Buffalo for two more seasons.

This was a little bit surprising because the player is reportedly unhappy with his situation in Buffalo. That makes sense. He's buried behind two recent #1 overall picks on their left side (Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power), on a team that doesn't seem to have any real path towards contention.

It is possible that the Sabres signed him to that new contract with that specific term, with the intention of continuing to try to trade him away. Byram met them in the middle and signed at a reasonable enough number. Any acquiring team would be getting a legitimate top-4 defenseman who has two years of term to see where things go.

But, I have a hunch in the other direction. My guess is that the Sabres tried valiantly to trade him away, only to find that there weren't very many suitors. Or, that the return was far less than they were hoping to get. So, as our own GM Don Waddell did with Ivan Provorov; Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams pivoted and worked out a deal that kept his options open further down the road.

This could have made sense a month ago. Byram is a talented player and I'm sure teams like the Jackets would love to have him. But, he's another left shot puck mover, and they have a few of those locked up for the next several seasons.

He wouldn't be happy in Columbus, either.

Look at the facts here: Byram isn't happy because he wants a top pairing role, and he's not getting that in Buffalo. He would not get that in Columbus, either. The Blue Jackets are one of the few teams in the league with a left-shot defenseman that is capable of playing at or above Dahlin's level. In fact, Zach Werenski finished second in Norris Trophy voting this season.

The Jackets also just re-upped Ivan Provorov for the next 7 seasons. They're now tied to him, Werenski, Dante Fabbro and Damon Severson for the long-haul. And, Denton Mateychuk is a player who played pretty comparably to Byram last year as a rookie. That's their top-5, for better or worse. Erik Gudbranson rounds out a serviceable enough top-6; a group that should be able to hold its own under the right coaching.

There isn't any room for another guy here, especially on the left side. Unless the Sabres want to take a bigger contract the other way. Which, I might add, would require one of Severson or Provorov to waive their no trade clauses. No offense: I don't see that happening, with Buffalo being the destination.

In short: there just isn't any need to pursue this player. It doesn't make sense for the Blue Jackets to add another left shot to their top-4, where there is already a logjam. The whole thing makes even less sense when you look at the reported price the Sabres and their fans are hoping to get. If we're throwing in Dmitri Voronkov, and having to include a current defenseman ... what else are they sending our way? It gets too complicated to even figure out. That's because it doesn't make sense for either team.

Don Waddell is no idiot. He's not going to gut his top line to add another defenseman to an already crowded blue line. All of this is just wishful thinking and baseless rumors.