Ruckman Hamish McIntosh, forward Corey Jones and midfielder Daniel Harris were all floated as trade bait, but the Roos ended the official exchange period without having negotiated any deals.
"We had no intention of parting with quality senior players unless we were offered something exceptional in return," coach Dean Laidley said in a club statement.
"We would not consider trading Hamish for anything less than a very, very high draft pick.
"He is a good player, and we think he can become a very good player, so we will continue to work with him and help him improve."
Laidley said Harris had every chance to succeed at the club.
"I spoke to Daniel immediately after the trade deadline and reminded him that he has a wonderful opportunity to become the player we all think he can become," Laidley said.
"While there are bumps in the road in every relationship, we held the belief that he will be best served in trying to achieve personal and team success by continuing his career at North Melbourne.
"I will sit down with him when he returns from the break and we will start working towards that."
Laidley also said that while there was some interest in Corey Jones, nothing that was offered would warrant trading a player of his ability.
"Corey is a quality player, but he was hampered by injury throughout the pre-season and that obviously affected his form. We look forward to him getting his body right over the summer and coming back better than ever next year," Laidley said.
"Now that the trade period is over we are looking forward to the draft, where we will continue our strategy of the past few years of drafting as many young players as possible. The results of that were clear during last season with our young guys taking some great steps forward.
"There is real excitement among the playing group and the coaching staff to keep developing these players into a successful team."
