Buffalo Defenceman With A Long Injury History Risks It All By Fighting

Buffalo Sabres fans knew they were getting a young, talented, minute eating eating defenceman when the deadline trade went down last month, that saw Casey Mittelstadt move to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Bo Byram. The 22 year old. defenceman has played well in the increased role. He was averaging 19 minutes in Colorado to enjoying 23 minutes with the Sabres. He has thrived with the extra minutes producing 6 points in 15 games since the trade.

Byram has a well known injury history. The 4th overall pick from 2019, has missed ton of time dealing with three known concussions in his young career. Anytime, Byram is involved in a physical alteration he is at a more inherent risk than others due to his extensive concussion history. During Sunday's game against the Detroit Red Wings, Bryam put himself in danger once again.

The Red Wings took a commanding 3-0 lead early in the first period and didn't look back taking the two points with a 3-1 victory, in a crucial game to help their playoff hopes.

An incident occurred with 10:29 remaining in the period, Detroit forward Joe Veleno was eager to get some retribution on Byram from an earlier hit, challenging the Sabres defenceman to a fight. Veleno was landing big shots early to Byram's head and neck, before Byram was able to push Veleno against the boards and took over the fight, landing a series of punches of his own. The fight would last a few more seconds as the refs got in to break it up and send the pair to the box for five minutes each for fighting.




Luckily, Byram escaped the fight without any injury. General manager Kevyn Adams must have been watching holding his breath knowing a wrong shot and Byram's career could be altered in a devastating way.