Buffalo Sabers will match any offer sheet to maintain Defenseman Bowen Bayram, but will entertain the trade offer, if the returns would help the team immediately, General Manager Kevin Adams said on Wednesday.
The 24 -year -old Bayram is a banned free agent. Adams told reporters that he was not interested in allowing Bayram to go away with a proposal sheet from another team, a step that would be a net draft pics for Sabers.
“We believe that Bo is an excellent hockey player who can help our team win,” Adams said.
“But … if there is a deal that makes us understand, which is going to improve our roster, we are open for it. But we are not in a situation where we are looking to take him out or move him to futures.”
Adams said the team is ready to match an offer sheet.
He said, “That’s why the tricks we have made and the situation in which we have kept ourselves from the perspective of the cap are strategic.” “If you just leave enough space in your hat, where you probably see a projection on a year deal and then come at the top, you are potentially putting your outfit in a really difficult space.
“The tricks we have made and the decisions we have made for weeks are keeping this in mind. We will match and under the contract there will be an opportunity to be a player that we feel that our team helps win.”
The Sabers acquired Bayram -No. 4 pick in the 2019 NHL draft by Alag, in a deal with Colorado on the 2024 trade time limit.
In the 2024–25 season, he played all 82 games and scored a career-high 38 points (seven goals, 31 aid).
In 246 career games with avalanche and Sabers, Bayram has 313 blocks and 110 points with 337 hits (33 goals, 77 aids).
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