BOSTON (CBS) — We’re starting to get a little more light on what went down with the Boston Bruins on Monday’s trade deadline day.

Peter Chiarelli ended up pulling off a trio of smaller moves before the clock struck zero for NHL teams, acquiring winger Brett Connolly early Monday morning before pulling off swaps for Max Talbot and Zack Phillips in the moments leading up to the 3 p.m. deadline, but according to an ESPN report, no team was busier than the Bruins in the past couple of weeks.

“When you talk to other teams around the league, what they say is that nobody was on the phone more than Chiarelli in the two weeks leading up to Monday’s deadline, trying all he could to get the pieces he was looking for,” ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun wrote Tuesday.

Chiarelli and the Bruins were in hot pursuit of Chris Stewart, who was ultimately dealt to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 2017 second-round pick. Chiarelli had interest in Stewart long before Monday’s deadline, and had sent a few offers to the Buffalo Sabres earlier this season (via LeBrun):

A source told ESPN.com that on Saturday the Bruins offered the Sabres two second-round picks in exchange for Stewart, goalie Michal Neuvirth and depth forward Brian Flynn. Obviously that deal wasn’t accepted, the Sabres wanting a specific prospect that Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli just didn’t want to give up, feeling it was too high a price to pay.

Once Boston moved on Connolly overnight Sunday with the cost being two-second picks going to the Lightning, the bigger-package deal with the Sabres was off the table.

But even as far back as on the eve of the season, back in early October, the Bruins are believed to have offered Ryan Spooner and a second-round pick for Stewart. [Sabres GM Tim] Murray decided to wait for a better offer. And again, the Sabres GM could very well have got that better offer in other years, it just didn’t play out that way this time.

So it seems that Chiarelli really, really wanted Stewart, but was probably better off not giving in to Buffalo’s high demands.