The Chicago Blackhawks are closing in on a trade for Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram ahead of Friday’s 2026 NHL Entry Draft.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Byram was close to being traded from Buffalo to Chicago.

“It sounds like talks are intensifying between Buffalo and Chicago involving Bowen Byram,” Friedman wrote on X.

Later on, NHL insider Frank Seravalli reported that the No. 4 pick in Friday’s draft will likely be going from Chicago to Buffalo as part of the Byram trade.

“Sources say the #Sabres are in the process of acquiring the No. 4 overall pick in Friday night’s #NHLDraft from the #Blackhawks as part of the deal for Bowen Byram. Deal isn’t done quite yet,” Seravalli wrote on X.

Bowen Byram Needs a New Contract

The 25-year-old Byram is entering the final season of his current contract, which carries a $6.25 million cap hit for next season.

Byram is going to want a hefty raise on his next deal, and Buffalo was going to find that difficult to do since the team is already tight up against the cap. Instead, they’ll make that problem Chicago’s as they are going to trade Byram away to the Blackhawks and bring in the No. 4 pick, who will be on a cheap entry-level deal.

Byram was drafted fourth overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche, and he won the Stanley Cup in Colorado in 2022. After playing four seasons in Colorado, the team traded him to the Sabres for center Casey Mittelstadt in a trade that Colorado would surely love to have back.

In his first season in Buffalo, Byram played 82 games and scored 7 goals and 38 points, before playing 82 games this past season and chipping in 11 goals and 42 points to help the Sabres win the Atlantic Division for the first time in franchise history.

Given he’s only 25 and is still improving, look for Byram to get a seven-year contract with an annual average value over $10 million per season on his next contract, which will presumably be with the Blackhawks.

Win-Win Trade for Both Teams

Though we do not know the full details of this trade yet, it looks like it could be a win-win trade for both teams.

For the Sabres, they will clear some cap space since they won’t have to re-sign Byram to a big contract, while getting back a high pick in Friday’s draft, where they can acquire a blue-chip prospect.

For the Blackhawks, they are at the point in their rebuild where having more prospects isn’t going to help them, as they need more proven talent on their team. While giving up the No. 4 pick for Byram is a high price to pay, Chicago felt like it was worth it to acquire a young defenseman who is a proven top-four defender who still has untapped potential. He’ll help out Chicago’s defense as they look to make a playoff push next season.

We’ll hopefully find out soon what the full details of the trade are, but on the surface, it looks like a trade that serves both teams well, as they both will fill a hole with it.