Bowen Byram's demotion another example of a flawed system

It was only a mild surprise when the Avalanche sent Bowen Byram back to the WHL for the season. After drafting him fourth overall, general manager Joe Sakic said Byram would get every opportunity to stick.

That Byram played in two of three games in Irvine in the Anaheim Rookie Faceoff and then four of Colorado’s first five preseason games reinforces that head coach Jared Bednar gave him an extended look.

After seeing him play, the organization came to the most logical conclusion given his play: not yet.

“I liked what he did in training camp for us,” Bednar said. “He started out strong with the rookie camp and got better. He looked a little unsure when he first got here and joined the big group. He kind of got better and better as the exhibitions went on. I thought his workload was pretty heavy in Las Vegas against a pretty good team in a tough environment and I thought that was his best game of camp. His last two were both strong.”

Byram certainly did seem to improve his play through the preseason but we saw even with the mitigation of the big mistakes he made early on, he still wasn’t quite comfortable being himself just yet.

Another factor that played into Byram being sent down is where the organization is on their blue line. For the first time in many years, Colorado is looking at a situation where they aren’t one injury away from complete disaster. Simply, Colorado doesn’t need Byram right now. They have the luxury of patience.

“I just think it was a decision we make as an organization,” Bednar continued. “You know the depth we have on the back end. Conor Timmins is another young guy that’s played real well here in exhibition. We’re seeing some guys step up and elevate their game. You’ve got to make sure a young guy like [Byram] is playing and playing a lot and playing in a bunch of different situations. We just felt as though it was best for his development to go back.”

And with that, Byram is back to the WHL to dominate for the Vancouver Giants. Is it, though, what’s best for his development?

Because Byram comes from the CHL system (the holy trinity of Canadian junior leagues: the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL), he is subject to the CHL-NHL agreement that says players aren’t allowed to play in the AHL until their age-20 season. Byram, fresh off the draft and a late birthday, is ineligible not just this year but next as well.

When the AHL was a dumping ground for bad NHL contracts and failed fourth-line fighters, it made sense to keep teenagers out of the AHL. Now, the league is experiencing a thorough transformation to a more skill-based development league.

More and more European draftees are going straight to the AHL immediately after being drafted. Granted, those guys have been playing pro for years in their native countries but the talent level in the AHL is often the right step up for those guys.

The results have varied on the Euros who have made the leap with some success stories (Rantanen, Mikko) and others with more questionable results (Nylander, Alex).

What’s frustrating is a player like Byram will certainly go back to the WHL and have another good season. He’ll represent Canada at the World Junior Championships and, from Colorado’s perspective, hopefully replicate the success Cale Makar and Timmins had together two years ago. That’s fine!

What is disappointing is Byram’s game really needs to round into form on the defensive end. When he’s out dominating the WHL for the second straight year, how much time will he really get back there?

Because he’s an all-situation monster for the Giants, he’ll see as much as the Giants can throw at him but it won’t be anything like it would have been had he been allowed to make the leap to the AHL.

Had he joined the Eagles, he could have jumped in right away at a level above the one he just had a record-setting year in. It’s obvious (to me, anyway) there’s a need for an adjustment in this agreement.

It’s not always in the player’s best development interest to return to a league he already has shown enough excellence to be a top draft pick. Sometimes a player is simply too good for a league.

Coming off a year in which he scored 26 goals and became the first defenseman to ever lead the WHL Playoffs in scoring, it’s obvious Byram doesn’t need another year in the WHL.

It’s also obvious after four preseason games that Byram isn’t ready for the NHL.

It doesn’t seem to make much sense Colorado is stuck with two flawed options while there’s a middle ground designed as a stepping stone between the two for a player to develop in. It would seem the player is being punished for being too good for his junior league too quickly but not being quite ready for the big leap.

Now, there are plenty of success stories of players who were in similar situations. Destroyer of RFA markets Mitch Marner is a recent example of a player who went back to his junior club for one year and found immediate success in the NHL the next year. This is the route Byram hopes to follow.

It just seems senseless to even be in that position. The CHL has a process for allowing exceptional players in the league early; why not more or less repeat the process for a player to go to the AHL? Especially in a case like Byram’s where the player isn’t eligible for two full seasons? There seem to exemptions for everything these days but the NHL-CHL agreement.

For the sake of players like Byram, the rare player caught in between, it would seem time to make a reasonable (and ultimately minor) adjustment to an outdated agreement.