The Blackhawks signed new addition Bowen Byram to a massive contract Wednesday during the first day of NHL free agency.
Byram inked a six-year extension carrying a whopping $12.5 million salary-cap hit that will take effect in 2027-28, following the final season of his existing contract at a more reasonable $6.25 million cap hit.
A big contract became inevitable as soon as the Hawks acquired the 26-year-old defenseman from the Sabres last week, knowing was walking directly toward unrestricted free agency a year from now.
With Byram holding the majority of the leverage, general manager Kyle Davidson admitted the Hawks would have to “put our money where our mouth is,” and indeed they will. Byram, to his credit, also followed through on his word that he “plans on being in Chicago for a long time.”
Having just gotten married last weekend, Byram was in Chicago on Wednesday, first taking part in an informal skate with Alex Vlasic and Artyom Levshunov and later touring houses around the city.
“[The Hawks] have showed a lot of faith in me, and they’ve given up a lot and committed to me in many, many ways,” Byram said. “Now the pressure is in my court to perform, so I’m excited for that opportunity.”
He insisted that pressure won’t faze him.
“I’ve played in a lot of big games: world junior games, [WHL] final games, Stanley Cup Final games, Game 7s in the playoffs,” he said. “For being a young guy, only playing around 300 games in the NHL, I’ve got a lot of experience. So I’ll definitely draw on that.
“But I don’t think pressure is anything that I’m not totally used to. I feel I’ve been under the gun my whole career, whether it’s trade rumors or pressure to perform.”
As of now, Byram is slated to become the highest-paid defenseman in the league in 2027-28, which sounds absurd for a guy who wasn’t even a top-pairing defenseman on either of his previous two teams. His contract contains a full no-movement clause, too.
He and the Hawks both strongly believe he will become a No. 1 defenseman when given the opportunity this coming season, but that hasn’t happened yet — and he’s already guaranteed to get paid like a No. 1 stud.
That’s why this represents such a gamble for the Hawks, even if they did have plenty of cap space with which to gamble.
Granted, Byram will never actually hold that “highest-paid defenseman” title, since both Cale Makar (Avalanche) and Quinn Hughes (Wild) are now eligible for extensions that will definitely surpass $12.5 million cap hits. That’s something Byram himself mentioned.
The foolishly large contract the Sharks gave veteran free-agent defenseman Jacob Trouba — four years with an $8.5 million cap hit — later Wednesday afternoon also made Byram’s contract look slightly more reasonable.
The Sharks (and Rangers) were reportedly deep in the Byram sweepstakes, which forced the Hawks to up their offer. Sharks general manager Mike Grier, having struck out there, pivoted and spent much of that budgeted money on 32-year-old Trouba, who’s a No. 3 defenseman at best right now and only going to decline over time.
For Byram, one obvious key to living up to expectations in Chicago will be staying healthy. He dealt with concussion issues throughout his Avalanche tenure, but he didn’t miss a single game the last two years with the Sabres.
That’s partly by design.
“I’ve really tried to not put myself in bad situations,” Byram said. “When I first came into the league, you’re excited, you’re running your mouth and doing all the types of things to put an ‘X’ on your back. [Now] I just try to be smart about things, not take big hits if you don’t have to.”
This story will be updated.