Byers missed most of the 2008–09 season due to a knee injury suffered during a game against the Worcester Sharks on October 31, 2008. In nine games, Byers had four goals and seven points, and he returned for the playoffs for Hartford, where Byers had three goals and four points in six games. Byers rebounded from his injury shortened season in 2009–10, as he had 25 goals and 52 points in 74 games with the Wolf Pack. Byers also appeared in five games with the Rangers, scoring his first NHL goal against Niklas Bäckström of the Minnesota Wild on October 30, 2009. Several days later, Byers was given an automatic one-game suspension by the NHL for instigating a fight with forward Tanner Glass in the final five minutes of a 4–1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on November 3.