Possibly, but do you trade Buch at the deadline if were in the playoff chase? That would make just as little sense as people see this trade for. Drury wanted to make a commitment to Kakko and Krav, as well as build out the bottom 6. It sucks, the market was soft for him. The Horvat rumors were likely a fleece job by an insider to get some interest in Buch which didnt work.

If this team is truly contending at the deadline then Drury has a really tough decision to make. Do we keep Buch and go all in on a playoff push knowing we have an excellent farm system or does he trade Buch for a solid return. We will never know if there was a better offer out there for Buch, it sounds like there wasn't and Drury was set on getting Blais. Blais has never played more than 40 games, let's hope his best is yet to come but just not an bright sign to have our rookie GM trade a top 6 winger, possibly our best forward of last season for a 2nd rounder and 3rd liner at best.