Bo Byram: “I want to play every game this year”

Probably no Avalanche player had a more frustrating 2020-21 season than Bo Byram.

There were Covid issues and quarantines. There were concussion issues. When there were no more health issues, toward the end of the season, there were No-room-at-the-Inn issues. Pardon Byram, then, if he never has anything good to say about his first season with the Avs. But that was then.

Byram, who turned 20 in June, has robust goals for 2021-22. In a story where he talked to the Vancouver Province’s Steve Ewen, the British Columbia native laid out his chief goal:

“I want to play every game this year,” Byram told Ewen. “I just want to establish myself and make sure that I’m going to be a regular in the lineup. I have to go prove to the team that I can do that.”

Byram played 19 games for the Avs, averaging 17:07 of ice time. He had no goals and two assists. He took a hit to the head from a leaping Keegan Kolesar in a March 25 game with Vegas, and never played again. He was skating every day with the team at practice in the playoffs, but coach Jared Bednar didn’t feel comfortable playing him after such a long layoff, in such a big time of the year.

Byram has been working out daily, and told Ewen he’s working more on his skating: “I think it’s something you have to continually work on. Everyone is getting faster.”

Let’s hope that Bo Byram, 2.0, has a much happier story than the first go-around. I think he’s going to be a big, valuable piece to the team and its fortunes for the season.