Bo Byram & the Sabres defense

The Sabres avoided arbitration and re-signed their defenseman to a two-year, $12.5 million deal and made things a little more confusing for the time being.

Bo Byram during end-of-season availability in April 2025. (Photo: Joe Yerdon)

While we waited for what seemed like an inevitable trade, the Buffalo Sabres and RFA defenseman Bo Byram avoided arbitration and agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million deal that comes with a $6.25 million cap hit.

Since the start of the offseason, the feeling was that Byram was a bit of a luxury player on a team that needed help in other areas, thus making him someone to be traded to acquire said pieces. That feeling grew stronger when Buffalo traded J-J Peterka to Utah for Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan and when the NHL Draft rolled around, waiting for the shoe to drop on a Byram trade was something everyone was doing.

After all, it made sense to trade Byram for a forward to help replace the production lost by moving out Peterka. On paper, it was a logical move to make, and the anticipation level of this particular move was quite high.

Instead of a trade, we’re at another pause moment seemingly waiting for a different payoff. If you knew nothing of the situation and viewed Byram’s contract in the moment, you’d call it a solid “prove it” deal with the big exception being that when the contract ends, he can sign anywhere he wants to as an unrestricted free agent.

It’s fascinating. It’s odd. It still feels like there’s something more to come. Even stranger still, it’s what this does to the Sabres depth chart if you view this as a moment of closure on the situation.

Let’s digest this.