Flyers Need to Trade for Bowen Byram to Make 2025 Playoff Push Amid NHL Rumors

The Philadelphia Flyers have missed the NHL playoffs in each of the last five seasons, its longest postseason drought since 1990-94. The team has struggled to draft and acquire the pieces necessary to right the ship but has the chance to halt that trend this off-season with the trade for the Buffalo Sabres' Bowen Byram.

Anthony Di Marco of The Daily Faceoff noted that Philadelphia is interested in adding the 24-year-old defenseman, and while the price may be high, with Buffalo reportedly not wanting draft capital but actual players in return, it is a deal worth making for the Flyers.

The worst team in the Eastern Conference this past season, the Flyers have to start looking to the future and compiling a team that can compete for years to come. That starts with stockpiling promising young talent who can form the foundation of the organization. Byram is one such a piece.

Across his time in Colorado and Buffalo, Bryam has steadily improved his numbers, with his points output increasing in each of the last three seasons, culminating with a 38-point year.

A left-shooting defenseman, he found himself stuck behind Mattias Samuelsson and Rasmus Dahlin, fighting for ice time, hence his desire to move on from Buffalo. Philadelphia, with a roster in need of revamping, would theoretically provide Byram the opportunities that eluded him with the Sabres and provide the Flyers a potential breakout star.

The Flyers have plenty of players in the left side of its back end, but as Di Marco noted, Cam York is a potential trade chip amid an expiring contract so any potential deal the team could make for him would free up a spot for Byrum.

In return for the player, the Flyers would likely have to give up a player at a position of need for Buffalo, with 26-year-old forward Owen Tippett and his 43 points a potential candidate.

The Vancouver Canucks figure to be a player in the Byram contest so the Flyers will have to work to put together the most intriguing package possible for the Sabres.

Given their increasing status as perennial basement dwellers in the Eastern Conference, they must do what is necessary to orchestrate a trade that both brings the desired defenseman to the City of Brotherly Love and rejuvenates an organization with a proud history of winning.