Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson made his NHL debut with the St. Louis Blues in 2007, at age 19.
Bo Byram was 6.
Colorado’s third defensive pairing has more than 13 years of separation. But on and off the ice, they get along as if they grew up together.
“He’s got an old-school soul,” Johnson, 34, said of Byram, 20. “He’s happy-go-lucky. He’s so young, but he kind of has that throwback style to him, how he is off the ice.”
Byram credits being grounded to his upbringing in the small British Columbia town of Cranbrook, population 20,499.