Bo Byram, 20, fitting in on Avalanche blue line alongside Cale Makar: “I feel a lot more comfortable on the ice” – The Denver Post

Bo Byram’s NHL learning curve is reminiscent of how quickly teammate Cale Makar fit in with the Avalanche two seasons ago. And make no mistake, that’s a rare development cycle.

Makar began his first full NHL season at age 20, and won the Calder Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year at 21. Byram, 20, has started the season so well he’s an early favorite to win the Calder around his 21st birthday in June.

Whether Byram does that or not, the Avs appear set for years to come with two dynamic, young end-to-end defensemen as their current top defensive pairing and cornerstones of the future.

“Such a fun pair to watch,” former Avs defenseman and current TV analyst John-Michael Liles said. “Byram has the luxury of learning from Cale while playing with him. Each can pretty much out-skate anyone else on the ice, which makes them extremely dynamic as a pairing. Add to that the puck skills and hockey IQ of both, and they are going to be fun to watch for a long, long time.”

Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic promised to rebuild the league’s worst team in 2016-17 from the blue line out, and he has nailed that pledge.

Makar and Byram were selected with the No. 4 overall picks in the 2017 and 2019 NHL drafts, respectively. Both are now trending toward becoming among the best players to come out of their drafts. With Sam Girard and Devon Toews also in the mix, the Avs have a strong collection of puck-moving defensemen.

Byram, who logged a career-high 26:07 against Vegas on Tuesday and 23:19 at St. Louis on Thursday, entered the weekend tied for third in NHL rookie scoring, second among defensemen. While Makar struggled to find his game through the first week of the season after not playing in any preseason games, he’s now starting to show the form that made him the Norris Trophy runner-up last season. He led Colorado with 25:14 of ice time in Thursday’s dominating territorial performance against the Blues, who were outshot 42-18 in losing 4-3.

There was a time during the preseason when it appeared the Byram-Makar pairing would have to wait.

Avs coach Jared Bednar hinted as much, indicating Byram was more likely to begin the season with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles or on the Avs’ third pairing. Then Byram flipped a switch, Bednar said.

“Credit to Bo. I know it was history, right? I’ve watched him play, I see what he’s done. But I also know a lot of young players come in and it’s more difficult than what you think it’s going to be,” Bednar said. “Bo’s made those adjustments. He’s put in the work. He’s a physical guy, competitive guy, confident guy, and it shows. He was fantastic (against Vegas). So I played him 26 minutes. It’s hard to keep him off the ice when he’s playing like that.”

Bednar said Byram turned things on in “Day 1 of the regular season,” after meetings with himself and assistant coach Nolan Pratt, who runs the defensemen.

“He had a slow camp and I didn’t love his exhibition. His game seemed confident but pretty casual, not making a huge impact. We had some conversations, Pratter and him, me and him, and he snapped out of it right away,” Bednar said. “A good example for young guys. You gotta push yourself out of your comfort zone. You can’t play in your comfort zone.”

Byram is no longer awestruck at playing in the NHL. He said he felt like that at times during his 19-game, injury-riddled season of 2021. He’s still a rookie because he has yet to reach 25 games in a previous season.

“Last year when I played my games I was still pretty nervous and tentative. And this year I feel a lot more comfortable on the ice, no matter who’s out there,” Byram said. “I remember last year if I was out against a big-name guy, I’d be like, ‘Oh Jesus.’ This year I feel a lot more comfortable with whoever I play against.”

He added: “Playing with Cale makes it pretty easy.”

Source: Read Full Article