Bowen Byram delivered one of the more dramatic debuts of the NHL preseason on Monday night, scoring all three Chicago Blackhawks goals, including the overtime winner, in a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild at United Center, according to NHL.com and CBS Sports.
The 25-year-old defenceman from Cranbrook, B.C. settled the game just 29 seconds into overtime, skating past Wild forward Bobby Brink before beating goaltender Calvin Pickard with a wrist shot from the left circle. Byram finished the night with five shots on goal and two hits, CBS Sports reported.
It was Byram’s first game in a Blackhawks sweater since Chicago acquired him from the Buffalo Sabres on June 23, sending back the No. 4 overall pick in the deal, per NHL.com. He signed a six-year, $75 million contract on July 1, worth $12.5 million per season beginning in 2026-27, a deal that makes him the NHL’s highest-paid defenceman.
Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill downplayed the individual scoring feat in favour of Byram’s overall game. “Whether he’d scored or didn’t score, I still wouldn’t change the level of belief that we have in him,” Blashill said, according to NHL.com.
Byram, for his part, credited a slow start for eventually settling him into the game. “Once I got a few shifts in, I settled down and just focused on trying to play quick,” he said.
The performance capped a strong stretch for Byram, who is coming off a career year in Buffalo, where he posted 11 goals and 42 points across 82 regular-season games in 2025-26. Drafted fourth overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2019, Byram won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2022, recording nine assists in 20 playoff games that spring before being traded to Buffalo in March 2024.
Chicago will be counting on Byram to anchor its blue-line at even strength and on the power play as the Blackhawks continue preseason play ahead of the 2026-27 regular season.
