Bednar: "We're going to have to get [Byram] in the lineup"

When the Colorado Avalanche released their training camp roster on Saturday, there were very few surprises. No PTOs, no deals signed we hadn’t heard about, no shenanigans of any sort.

Yet, at the very top sporting the new number four was Bowen Byram.

Given he’s arguably the best defenseman in the world not currently in the NHL, it wasn’t a surprise to see his name listed on the roster. It’s more that he’s a little busy right now sharing the captain duties of Team Canada as they seek to win back-to-back gold medals at the World Junior Championships.

Byram, who is sharing the captaincy with Buffalo prospect Dylan Cozens following an exhibition game injury to previous captain Kirby Dach, is starring on Canada’s top pairing and scored his first goal of the tournament last night in their win over the Czech Republic.

What comes next for Byram has been the subject of much debate. We’ve talked about it on several episodes of the podcast and based on today’s opening presser with Jared Bednar, it is not a conversation going away anytime soon.

“When it comes to Bowen Byram and what role he’ll play, that’s to be determined,” Bednar said. “We’re at the point where, as a team, we’re expecting to win every night. That’s how we approach it. He’s going to come in and prove to us what he’s able to do for our team. I do believe he’s grown a lot in the short time that we’ve had him as a draft pick and watching him play at the World Juniors, I think he’s getting better and better as the tournament goes on, as the games get more important. He’s impacting the games there in a positive fashion. I believe that he can do that for us.”

It’s a unique situation as teams with Stanley Cup aspirations typically don’t have prospects the caliber of Byram pushing for a job but having no clear pathway to one. According to Bednar, Colorado’s current third pairing is Ryan Graves and Ian Cole, two players coming off very good regular seasons for the Avs (you can read more about Graves here).

The lack of a preseason hurts Byram a bit in this spot but coming straight from a competitive environment where he’s playing huge minutes should mean no rust and he jumps right in.

“I think we’re going to have to get him in the lineup here in NHL games,” Bednar said. “There’s no exhibition games so we’re going to have to get him in the lineup and just see what he’s able to do for us and monitor his growth and see where his game goes.

The team is, unsurprisingly, drawing on their experience with Cale Makar, who went from losing the National Championship Game at UMass to playing in Game 3 of the team’s first round playoff series against the Calgary Flames. Makar stepped in, scored in the first period, and has never looked back. Bednar sees this as a similar situation.

“It’s no different than a couple of years ago when we got Cale and we felt like this is a guy that can help us from every indication we’d seen watching him play and speaking to his coaches, seeing him play against the best in the world in certain situations in NCAA play, running down the finals. Now, Bowen at World Junior Championships, he’s doing a great job.”

The addition of the taxi squad, which is four to six players with at least one goaltender, means Byram might be able to move on and off the active roster to play depending on the team’s situation at the position and the upcoming schedule.

As they play several games per week with only a handful of breaks longer than two days, depth will be a key factor for the Avs this season and Byram could be the ultimate ace in the hole.

Of course, there’s also the business side of the situation to consider, too. Because of the 56-game schedule, Byram no longer has a nine-game trial period to convince the Avs to keep him for the entire season. That trial has been cut down to just six games.

Do they give him six games in a row? Two at a time? One here and there? How Byram gets used might play a major role in the outcome of the situation. In the end, though, there was no doubt about the club’s desire to see what Byram has to offer right now.

“I just think that we’re going to have to get him in games and see how he can impact those games for us. If he does a good job, he’ll stay in. We may move him in and out a little bit and use him as a depth piece to start and we’ll just see where it all goes. We’re open to all situations but this is a real gifted, a real special player. We certainly feel like he’ll be able to help us if not now then certainly here in the near future.”