The Chicago Blackhawks acquired defenseman Bowen Byram and forward Jordan Greenway from the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night in exchange for the fourth overall pick in Friday's NHL Draft, the 45th overall pick and defenseman Louis Crevier.
It is the most significant move of Chicago's offseason and one of the more aggressive trades in the NHL this week, the Blackhawks giving up a top-five draft pick to get an established young defenseman rather than taking another swing at the prospect pipeline.
Byram, 24, was the fourth overall pick himself in the 2020 NHL Draft, selected by the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he won a Stanley Cup championship in 2022.
He was traded to Buffalo in 2024 and spent two seasons with the Sabres, who continued their seemingly indefinite rebuild without making the playoffs for the 15th consecutive year.
In Buffalo he posted 14 goals and 34 assists for 48 points in 77 games last season, his most productive NHL campaign, while establishing himself as a legitimate top-four defenseman with the offensive instincts that made him a top-five pick in the first place.
The Blackhawks pair him with Connor Bedard, the 2023 first overall pick who finished his third NHL season with 82 points and is beginning to deliver on everything that selection promised.
Chicago has been careful and patient with its rebuild.
Adding Byram signals the organization believes it is ready to accelerate, that the next step is adding proven contributors to Bedard's core rather than continuing to accumulate more youth and draft capital.
Buffalo gets the fourth overall pick in Friday's draft to continue building through the draft, the approach that keeps not quite working for a franchise that has the longest active playoff drought in the NHL.