One of the top players that was expected to be available ahead of the trade deadline was Artemi Panarin, who had begun the season with the New York Rangers. That trade materialized right before the roster freeze for the Olympics, with Panarin heading to the Los Angeles Kings.
While general manager Jarmo Kekalainen knows the player well from their time together with the Columbus Blue Jackets, it never seemed like the Buffalo Sabres were ever really an option for him. This was due in large part to Panarin really controlling where he went next with a no-movement clause in his contract.
Several Eastern Conference teams were interested in Artemi Panarin that could have impacted Buffalo Sabres playoff chances
Shortly after the trade was announced, Elliotte Friedman was on NHL Network and mentioned a few teams that were interested in Panarin before he ultimately was traded to the Kings. One of the teams was the Carolina Hurricanes, with Friedman saying, "There was a wild rumor last night that he was going to Carolina. A lot of people heard it and it got denied in a lot of places. I believe what happened was there was a lot of leverage going on."
After the Hurricanes, Friedman mentioned two teams that the Sabres are directly competing with in the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Right before the break, the Sabres had a back-to-back against the Panthers and Lightning, where they were able to take three of four points against.
They have another back-to-back road game in the second and third game after the break against these teams, which are big games looking ahead to the playoffs. The Sabres are nine points ahead of the Panthers but eight points behind the Lightning, and either team adding a player like Panarin could have resulted in a big shift in the playoff race.
A move out west to the Los Angeles Kings ended up being a perfect scenario as the Buffalo Sabres are chasing ending a playoff drought and at least in this situation, there was no direct competitors who improved their roster.