Entering Friday night, the expectation was that the Buffalo Sabres were going to be busy with two first-round picks and a desire to improve the NHL roster. However, what ended up happening was that they used both their first-round picks to make picks instead of trading them away.
It certainly wasn't because Jarmo Kekalainen didn't want to make a trade but he drew a line in terms of what he believes the value of those picks was and no team met that level.
"We made it clear that we were looking at all options, whether it's fourth pick overall or 20th pick overall. We could move up, we could move down," Kekalainen said. "I contacted all the other teams in the league to make sure they knew that all our options are open but nothing was attractive enough for us to do anything else but pick."
Later in the press conference, Kekalinen explained what he was looking for in return with the fourth overall pick.
"It would have taken a significant offer for us to move from four. We had some offers where we could have moved back a little bit and gotten something in return. All kinds of different options that were kind of taking notes for a couple days on but to outright trade pick number four would have needed an impact player that can play with our team for a good period of time."
Those picks ended up being Daxon Rudolph with the fourth overall pick and Ilia Morozov with the 20th overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft.
Jarmo Kekalainen wasn't going to make a trade just to make a trade for the Buffalo Sabres
One thing has been pretty clear in less than one year of Jarmo Kekalainen as general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. He has a belief about what the right value should be and is more comfortable walking away than overpaying.
During the NHL Trade Deadline, the Sabres got close to a rumored Robert Thomas trade. However, the Blues reportedly wanted Josh Norris, and the Sabres' general manager felt that was too much.
It certainly sounded like he was busy leading up to the NHL Draft with all the rumors swirling but once again, he has made it clear that he has an idea of what the value is and isn't going to sway from that.
That is probably why he has been able to win trades like the one with the Chicago Blackhawks for Bowen Byram. In that trade, the Sabres appeared to come out the winner based on the return, and while frustrating in the moment that the Sabres didn't make any moves, it is going to pay off in the long run.
This doesn't mean the Sabres are going to win every trade, like the one with the Winnipeg Jets for Logan Stanley during the season. However, it is going to be better in the long run to have a general manager who isn't afraid to walk away from negotiations instead of overpaying just to make a trade.
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