This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Bowen Byram
Buffalo Sabres Defense
38 points, 82 games, and the healthiest season of a career defined by not having one.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | COL | 19 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +1 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0.0 | 17:31 |
| 2021-22 | COL | 30 | 5 | 12 | 17 | +7 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 49 | 10.2 | 18:48 |
| 2022-23 | COL | 42 | 10 | 14 | 24 | +7 | 38 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 65 | 15.4 | 21:53 |
| 2023-24 | COL/BUF | 73 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 0 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 13.1 | 20:21 |
| 2024-25 | BUF | 82 | 7 | 31 | 38 | +11 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 94 | 7.4 | 22:42 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 246 | 33 | 77 | 110 | +26 | 172 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 313 | 10.5 | 20:59 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
7 goals and 31 assists in 82 games for 38 points, plus-11, on 22:42 a night — 82 games, after playing more than 42 once in his first four seasons.
48.5 per cent at five-on-five, the 36th percentile, over 1,474 minutes — more than anybody else on the roster. On-ice goals of 62-57 against an expected 56-59.
The Finesse Game
The skating is the best on the blue line after Dahlin and it is what the whole game runs on. He leaves his own zone under control, changes direction without losing speed, and is genuinely dangerous joining a rush.
94 shots and 7 goals, with 19 per cent of the attempts from inside 20 feet, which for a defenceman is an aggressive profile — he goes to the slot. 31 assists is a fair return for the minutes on a club that scored 257.
The Physical Game
6-1 and 205, and he defends with feet rather than weight. He does not clear a crease and does not win a battle by force, and against a heavy forecheck he escapes rather than absorbs.
46 penalty minutes over 82 games. The important number remains 82: he had four concussions in three years earlier in his career and the fact that he played a full season is the single best thing in this chapter.
The Intangibles
A 4th overall pick, a Cup at 21, a run of head injuries that threatened the career, and a trade at 23.
He is 24 and has now shown he can play 82 games. The projection is a genuine top-four defenceman; the reason to hold it lightly has never been the ability.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 1,474 minutes
- Expected goals
- 48.5%
- 36th pct
- Shot attempts
- 49.5%
- 46th pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 62 for, 57 against. Expected: 55.6 and 59.0.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe two rank him within 18 points of one another. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason.
Both bars are percentiles among the 315 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 74 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 · 1474 minutes at five-on-five
- Owen Power21%
- Connor Cliftonnow PIT13%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- BUF took 47.9% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 48.5% — 0.6 above the club he did it on.
- The role
- First pair, 1,474 minutes at five-on-five — 98th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rasmus Dahlin | 53.3% | 44.8% | 52.6% |
| Tage Thompson | 46.8% | 49.4% | 51.6% |
| Alex Tuch | 48.7% | 48.5% | 47.7% |
53.3% together, 44.8% for him apart and 52.6% for Dahlin apart. He was worse away from Dahlin, who was no better away from him — he needed that pairing more than Dahlin did.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
139 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 7 of them goals. His median goal came from 28 feet. 19% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 55% from beyond forty.