Late Wednesday night the Buffalo Sabres dealt seemingly disgruntled forward JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth. In some inner circles it was believed to be his agent in his ear behind all of this. Either way, Peterka is gone now and joins a growing list of players to have left Buffalo. A sad reality until this team starts winning again.
In return, Buffalo has acquired Michael Kesselring, a solid 25 year old towering right shot defender. He is over 6’5″ and about 215 pounds. He looks like a good option to pair with Owen Power on Buffalo’s blue line. Kesselring had 29 points in 82 games last season and was a +4.
The Sabres also got RW Josh Doan in the deal. The 23 year old scored 19 points in 51 games in his rookie season with Utah. He also scored 11 points in 13 games in an impressive sample size in Arizona, before the team moved. Yes, Josh is the son of former NHLer Shane Doan, the longtime Coyote great.
Both of these players look like solid additions to the roster but they come at the expense of a blossoming star in JJ Peterka. It’s a tough pill to swallow. This sure is a gamble for the Sabres and GM Kevyn Adams. Most hockey pundits are shaking their heads at Buffalo right now, calling this deal lopsided. It might feel that way now but if you step back and really analyze it, well… it still is. For RIGHT now at least.
Utah is getting an offensive force in JJ. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him score 80 points next season and really rub it in our faces. But the good news for Buffalo is they have a big upgrade on defense in Kesselring. He is the right shot defender they were looking for. Doan is an interesting player as well. If he can perform half as well as his father, then we have a pretty good player. He feels like a possible Jack Quinn replacement should the Sabres move on from him.
Now we all know Bowen Byram is likely the next player to be moved for Buffalo, maybe on draft day. Trading Bo for a scoring forward should be heavily considered, now that Peterka has checked out. Until then, this is just another day in paradise for Buffalo Sabres fans. The shock, the horror. We knew it was coming but it doesn’t make it any easier. I would have personally preferred Kesselring and Lawson Crouse, that is more of an instant upgrade in my opinion. Crouse brings his 20 goals a season capability and much needed physical play. That would have legitimized this deal a little more for Buffalo. But Doan has potential to be pretty good too. He might be the pleasant surprise in this trade for the Sabres.
I’ll finish up with this short video of Kesselring and Doan having fun outside of hockey. At least they feel like good pals already. That is a positive thing coming to a new team. I imagine they will go out for wings together now, hopefully with blue cheese. They were also teammates of Tage Thompson on Team USA, and that might have played into the decision to go for the pair.