Louis Crevier is almost an afterthought in a trade that saw Bowen Byram and the fourth overall pick of the 2026 NHL Draft exchanged as part of the deal. The Buffalo Sabres went on to draft what they hope is a future top-four defenseman in Daxon Rudolph. The Chicago Blackhawks made Byram the highest-paid defenseman in the NHL at the moment.

Crevier is an underrated acquisition for the Sabres. He’s not going to come in and replace what they lost with Byram. That’s not what they’re expecting. They expect him to fill the role vacated by Logan Stanley and the inconsistency of Conor Timmins.

The 25-year-old defender is one of the rare seventh-round picks that made their way to the NHL and carved out a nice role for themselves. He played a career-high 78 games last season with the Blackhawks and was utilized in high-leverage situations.

Crevier averaged just over 17 minutes a night, playing not only 5-on-5 but also a big role on special teams. Especially as the season went on.

The Quebec-born defender started the season as a bottom-pair defender, but worked his way into consistent top-four minutes and played some of the most difficult situations on the team.

Jeff Blashill started to lean on him as his matchup defender at the mid-point of the season. He was heavily deployed in the defensive zone but still contributed offensively with 25 points.

When you look at his on-ice numbers last season in Hockey Stats model, they don’t paint the best picture. He had a 43% expected goals share at 5-on-5, with a 3.06 expected goals against rate per hour. The entire Blackhawks roster graded out terribly last season. The highest expected goal share on the roster was Connor Murphy at 48%.

Naturally, you want to write off some of Crevier’s poor numbers to that. His 46% on-ice goal differential at 5 on 5 was among the best on the roster. The good news with that is it wasn’t a lucky run of high on-ice save percentage. Crevier’s on-ice save percentage was one of the lowest on the team, but the on-ice shooting percentage was near the top. We’ll get a little more into this in a moment.

There’s upside here with this player. I see what the Sabres are betting on. Especially if they plan to take away some of the challenging minutes by putting him back in a third-pair role.

Penalty Kill

Crevier is going to be a key piece to the Sabres penalty kill next season. He was an important part of what ranked the Blackhawks second in penalty kill percentage. He played 147 minutes shorthanded last season and had a team-best on-ice goals against rate of 4.84 per hour among players with at least 75 minutes.

He was also third among all players on the Blackhawks with 5.28 shots blocked per hour while shorthanded, according to Evolving Hockey. His size and reach are what help him be an effective penalty killer. Can take up space on the ice and use his stick to take away passing lanes.

From my viewings of watching back a handful of his games, I see him as a net protector. It’s another reason that he’s an effective penalty killer.

Defensive Zone Pros and Cons

This is something the Sabres can use in their defense group. He has good awareness around the net, is solid positionally, and will consistently tie up the player in front of the net. I also noticed his ability to clear lanes for his goaltender. He understands how to use his size advantage to move players out of the way.

I’ve talked about a lot of positives so far, but now we start to get into some concerns about what I observed. Away from the net is where I have issues with Crevier’s game. Forwards can take advantage of him on the walls with their speed and shiftiness. I don’t think he moves well in tight spaces and can get beaten there.

The San Jose Sharks and Sabres gave him a difficult time in those two games I watched at the end of the season. There were even times in transition where he got caught pivoting slowly or just straight beaten with speed in the neutral zone.

I was initially nervous about his ability to shut down rush attempts, but the more games I watched, the more that changed. It was particularly impressive how he consistently closed out Connor McDavid during one of their matchups.

It reminds me a little bit of Mattias Samuelsson defending rushes. At times, he’ll appear to be beat, but he knows how to use his reach to recover. I came away from what I watched thinking he’ll be a solid entry defender for the Sabres.

One area that did not improve as I watched more was the zone exits. There’s no other way to slice it: he’s poor at exits. The microstats from All Three Zones show that, and the video verifies it. He throws the puck up the boards a lot or just flips it into the neutral zone to relieve pressure. The downside of that is it gives the puck back to the opponent.

I don’t see it improving much with the Sabres, but they can partner him with someone who has the skillset to assist on exit passes to feed their transition game.

Offensive Potential

The offensive side of his game, particularly the transition play, intrigues me about this player. The Sabres have a system that asks their defenders to be a part of the offensive attack. The forwards on the roster know to look for them on the rush, and Crevier flashed multiple times doing this with the Blackhawks.

He’s willing to get up in the play and can skate well enough to recover when he does get involved in the play offensively.

When possession is established in the offensive zone, the Sabres will need to work with him on overshooting from the point. He led all Blackhawks defensemen in unblocked shot attempts and shots on goal per hour at 5-on-5. I observed him forcing shots to the net at times, which won’t work in the Sabres system.

Having said that, they don’t want to discourage him from shooting. Crevier has one of the hardest shots in the league and can beat goaltenders clean from distance.

It’s going to be about finding some balance. I’m sure there will be times he forces a frustrating shot from the blue line, but there will be some benefit. If it makes it through traffic, there’s a good chance it could go in or create a rebound opportunity.

As I said, I like the bet the Sabres are making here. Crevier’s skill set offers something this roster needs and fits well with how they play.

Data via: Evolving Hockey, All Three Zones, Hockeyviz, and Hockey Stats

Photo Credit: Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images