The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and after the dust settled, the Buffalo Sabres would make three trades that focused primarily on depth with the additions of Logan Stanley, Luke Schenn, Tanner Pearson, and Sam Carrick. However, that doesn't mean that Jarmo Kekalainen didn't try to make a splash in his first trade deadline as general manager of the Buffalo Sabres.
Leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline, the Sabres were reported to be heavily pursuing center Robert Thomas and defenseman Colton Parayko. It got to the point for Parayko, where he was deciding whether or not to waive his no-trade clause in a reported deal that would have sent a first-round pick and top prospect Radim Mrtka to St. Louis.
On Friday, Elliotte Friedman, during an episode of 32 Thoughts, seemingly shared some idea of what the trade package might have been for Robert Thomas, and it would have been big. "Another guy who is an AHL GM, he told me the rumor was he said that if that St. Louis trade went through, that Rochester team would have been completely decimated," Friedman said.
"All their best players would have been in St. Louis. All of them. He said they were probably going to have to trade for AHL vets, maybe from St. Louis in the deal, to fill out their roster."
Konsta Helenius and Devon Levi probably were two key parts of the Buffalo Sabres trade package
There is no question that the asking price for Robert Thomas was high, and it was reportedly a first-round pick, an NHL player, and prospects, according to Darren Dreger. That means any trade package probably started with forward Konsta Helenius and goalie Devon Levi, who was believed to be shopped by the Sabres, but with Friedman's reporting, probably went well beyond those two if they needed to add to the roster if the trade went through.
Since this was a discussion prior to the trade with Winnipeg Jets, Isak Rosen would have been another piece in that type of trade package, who has been playing well this season with 43 points in 37 games. After these three, it would have been interesting to hear exactly who else was being included.
While the actual trade package being offered may never be known, it is pretty clear that Jarmo Kekalainen was ready to go big at the trade deadline. The Sabres have had a pretty deep prospect pool due to a long-running playoff drought, but Kekalainen appeared to want a player who could help win now and was ready to use that prospect pool to his advantage.
In the end, the Buffalo Sabres have essentially the same roster but now much deeper with key veterans among the forwards and on defense. This is not necessarily a bad thing as the Sabres have been arguably the best team in the league over the last three months. More importantly, they still have their top prospects which should help them remain competitive moving forward.