BUFFALO – Defensemen the caliber of Sabres studs Bowen Byram and Rasmus Dahlin rarely skate together as a tandem. Coaches typically pair a puck-rusher alongside a more stay-at-home defender.
Heck, most NHL teams don’t have one defenseman that talented, let alone two. It’s unique that coach Lindy Ruff had the option to put the slick blueliners together.
In moving Byram, 23, up with Dahlin, 24, around Christmastime, Ruff put a lot of aggressiveness on his top defense pair. One of them must stay back, and usually it’s Byram.
“When you play two offensive guys together, with Dahls kind of going, you can’t have both guys going,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said last week following practice in KeyBank Center. “… We got a little bit where we got two offensive guys and Bo has taken a little bit more of a defensive posture.”
Byram has embraced his new role – “We’re seeing a really good version of Bo right now,” Ruff said – in what has become perhaps his best stretch with the Sabres.
So while it’s a little unusual to load so much skill on one defense pair, it can have a positive effect.
“Maybe Dahls helps Bo more than we think, too,” Ruff said. “So I think that can go both ways. … Sometimes a guy’s game can go a little off the rails if he tries too hard offensively. So he’s got a good combination of getting in the play and being back there when Dahls is involved.
“You don’t know until you split them up if you can find that right partner and you get that chemistry.”
Byram and Dahlin displayed that chemistry throughout Saturday’s 6-4 road loss to the Nashville Predators, the Sabres’ final game before the NHL began its break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The partners each recorded one goal and two points as the Sabres’ four-game winning streak ended. Byram created Dahlin’s goal by digging the puck out of the corner. He did not, however, receive an assist.
They also registered a 72 percent Corsi For together and a 0.53 expected goals.
But beyond any statistics, the eye test illustrated they were often the best players on the ice.
“I thought that might’ve been Dahls’ best game along with Bo, too,” Ruff told reporters in Nashville. “I mean, Dahls, I just thought was dominant every shift.”
Byram said he tries to let “Ras do his thing and make sure I’m back there if anything goes south.”
“We both know when we can go and when we can’t,” he said. “We can both recognize if one of us is already up, to hang back. I think it works pretty well between the two of us. There’s certain plays where it’s easier for one guy to jump and one guy not to.”
Dahlin said he and Byram “can do something special.”
“He reads the game unbelievable, and then he knows when to read the play and he knows when to back me up,” he said. “So I think we have a really good chemistry going on. We still have some stuff to improve, so the ceiling is very high for us.”
Byram, the fourth overall pick in 2019, has been moving closer to his ceiling since the Sabres acquired him March 6, 2024, in the blockbuster trade that sent center Casey Mittelstadt to the Colorado Avalanche.
A fresh start has given Byram, who won the Stanley Cup in 2022, the bigger role he coveted. He has been seizing his new opportunities, having compiled seven goals, 29 points and a plus-9 rating while averaging 23 minutes, 9 seconds of ice time over 54 games this season.
“I think it brings the best out of me,” Byram of his playing time.
He has never played more minutes or produced more offense. He has already set a new career high in assists and tied his career best in points without the benefit of regular power-play action.
But he has improved more than his scoring prowess. Ruff said he has matured defensively, showing a willingness to block shots and also improving his reads, whether that’s staying put instead of pinching or cutting off the back of his net from an opponent.
“He’s been the one defenseman that’s been in a lot of big blocks on broken plays, where he’s been able to sacrifice his body for a chance to keep the puck out of our net,” Ruff said.
Much of Byram’s development can also be traced to simply growing up and feeling more comfortable in the NHL.
“This year, I feel a lot more comfortable on the ice no matter who’s out there,” said Byram, who has compiled two goals and five points during a three-game point streak. “In years prior, maybe I was a little tentative or thinking too much if some of their better players were on the ice.”
