Byram healthy, contributing for Avalanche during run to Stanley Cup Final

DENVER -- It wasn't much of a 21st birthday party, a few phone calls, a little family time. But with the Stanley Cup Final two days away, there was no chance Bowen Byram was going to overdo it. He worked too hard to be here, too hard to come back this season, too hard to come back at all.

"Pretty low-key," Byram said of the festivities on Monday. "Wasn't thinking too much about my birthday, to be honest with you. It's a childhood dream to be here. It's what you think about every day growing up, so just focused on the series."
He stayed in, relaxed, worked on getting ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. He and the Colorado Avalanche would be rewarded with a 4-3 overtime win at Ball Arena.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is here Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, TVAS, SN).
Byram played 22:37 in Game 1, third-most among Avalanche defensemen, and had the secondary assist on their first goal by Gabriel Landeskog.
But none of that -- not the ice time or the assist or the ability to step out on the ice at all -- was ever guaranteed for Byram.
"There were times when I didn't really know if I'd be playing again," Byram said. "I didn't know when I was going to be feeling better."
It started this season on Nov. 11, when Byram sustained a concussion on an elbow from Bo Horvat in a game against the Vancouver Canucks. At the time, Byram had eight points in 10 games. But the injury was worrisome for another reason: Byram sustained a season-ending concussion on March 25, 2021.
And now here was another. He would return for two games, on Nov. 27 and Dec. 1, then again for five games from Jan. 2 to Jan. 10.
He wouldn't play again in the NHL until April 5.
It was a fraught time, when Byram didn't know his future. His symptoms lingered. He was seeing doctors and therapists, trying to take care of his physical and mental health, trying to right everything that went wrong.
Eventually, the struggles eased, and he started to realize that he would get back to hockey. He made it a goal to be back this season, even though he knew that some in his circle -- family, friends -- and some outside thought he should have waited for 2022-23.
But, he said, "I would rather be on the ice playing than at home on the couch or in the press box. It was a lot of hard work. But I'm super happy with where I'm at now."
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Byram said it took a while to feel normal again at the end of the season, when he played 12 games heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But by the last four or five, he was back playing the kind of hockey he wanted to be playing. He finished the regular season with 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in 30 games and has eight assists in 15 postseason games.
While he was gone, he talked to other players, both on the Avalanche, including defense partner Erik Johnson, and those around the NHL. Byram said he was particularly touched when Nashville Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki approached him during their series in the Western Conference First Round.
"Borowiecki from Nashville came over to me in a TV timeout, said, 'Hey, how are you feeling? If you need anything, reach out,'" Byram said. "That was pretty cool, in such an intense environment and coming from a guy that plays so hard, it was pretty cool to kind of get recognized in that moment, in such a pressure-packed situation."
He had worked hard to figure out how to return to the ice, how to protect himself, how to not leave himself vulnerable, something that has long been a priority. He said he believed that he couldn't back down, that sometimes it was necessary to take a hit to make a play. He started out tentatively when he returned but has settled into his new reality. And now, it rarely crosses his mind on the ice.
"He's persevered," Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews said. "He's a young player, just turned 21. To have to go through what he's had to go through is something that you don't wish upon anybody. And he's had a great mental attitude about it and he's figured out what works for him and what doesn't and he's really honed in on trying to feel good every single day, whether he's skating or not.
"For him to take that time and be able to mentally feel sure about himself and feel strong and then slowly work his way back into playing and skating has been really good to see."
Now, though, Byram just wants to concentrate on the ice. On winning games. On the Cup.
This isn't the first time that Byram has attended a Cup Final. He was there three years ago in St. Louis for Game 4 in 2019, watching the St. Louis Blues defeat the Boston Bruins alongside his fellow soon-to-be NHL Draft picks. Less than three weeks later, he would be selected No. 4 by Colorado.
"I remember just being amazed with how fast the hockey was. I was like, 'I don't know if I'll be able to do that.' But now that I'm here, it's crazy thinking back. It feels like forever ago, but it was really just a short two or three years. It's definitely surreal.
"To be back here now, playing in a Cup Final, it's pretty hard to believe, to be honest."