Avalanche select Bowen Byram with No. 4 pick
The Colorado Avalanche selected British Columbia native Bowen Byram with the fourth overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft.
Bowen Byram
Position: Defenseman
Height: 6-feet
Weight: 193 lbs
Age: 18
Club: Vancouver Giants (WHL)
Nationality: Canadian
| GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | 26 | 45 | 71 |
(Stats courtesy: EliteProspects.com)
Byram was the consensus best defensive prospect in the draft and was projected by many to be a top-five pick.
The blue-liner from Cranbrook - which is just across the province from the night's draft festivities - racked up more than a point per game in the regular season and led the WHL with 26 points in 22 playoff contests during his second full season with the Giants.
He placed second among North American skaters on NHL Central Scouting's final rankings heading into the draft.
Byram, who won the CHL's Top Prospect Award in May, recently told Sportsnet's Luke Fox that he models his game after Toronto Maple Leafs rearguard Morgan Rielly, who is similar in size and also hails from B.C.
What they're saying
"We take a viewpoint of who's someone you can build around, and Bowen Byram meets all the little boxes we needed to check off there," Central Scouting director Dan Marr told NHL.com's Adam Kimelman last month. "He's immensely talented, but his character, his attitude, his compete, his battle, it just hits all the marks.
"There's a term scouts use when they go around, this guy gets it. And Bowen Byram is one of the players that just gets it," Marr continued. "He knows what needs to be done at the right time on the ice, he knows what the situation calls for and he's proven that he's capable of rising to the occasion, whether it's to defend a goal, create a scoring chance, put an opponent in his place."
"He's a threat in all three zones," Giants head coach Michael Dyck told NHL.com's Mike Morreale in March. "He's able to make plays under pressure and make plays in traffic in his own zone and in the neutral zone. In the offensive end, he's able to create offense so he can create plays blue line to goal line, whether he has the puck or not."