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The Buffalo Sabres and Utah Mammoth connected on a trade late on Wednesday night. Less than 48 hours before the NHL Entry Draft, the Sabres sent JJ Peterka to the Mammoth, who gave him a five-year extension. Utah sent defenseman Michael Kesselring and forward Josh Doan back in the deal. Did Buffalo get enough for their young forward? Did Utah's extension make sense? We'll find out in our JJ Peterka trade grades.
The Utah Mammoth have the fourth overall pick in Friday's draft, but did not give that up in this deal. They didn't give up a single pick for Peterka, despite having four extra picks in the 2026 draft. The Sabres wanted to keep Peterka, but reports indicated that he wanted a change of scenery. When moving a player who wants a trade, it is hard to come out on top. But did they get enough even to make the deal worth it?
The Mammoth keep adding talent to their roster
The end of the Arizona Coyotes came when they finally had assembled a solid young core. Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, and Nick Schmaltz create something for GM Bill Armstrong to build around. Now, they are in Utah with young stars and another big trade in the books to push them toward the playoffs. The Peterka trade is exactly what the Coyotes never did. The Mammoth not only traded for Peterka but also paid him $7.7 million annually for five years.
Peterka had 68 points in 2024-25, a career high in his fourth NHL season. But that number was lifted by an unsustainably high shooting percentage of 15.7 percent. The league average last year was 10 percent. Peterka will be a part of an exciting young core and will call Utah home for the foreseeable future. His extension number is high, but with a rising cap it could be market value for Peterka.
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The Mammoth gave up two pieces to the Sabres to land Peterka. Josh Doan has 28 points in 62 NHL games between Utah and Arizona. While Doan is a nice prospect, they upgraded the forward position with Peterka. Michael Kesselring is a defensive defenseman who played all 82 games for Utah this year. He is the more valuable piece in this deal, but Utah has a strong defensive core and could trade to add another blue liner.
Mammoth grade: A-
Sabres don't get enough for a valuable asset
Kesselring is a nice player for the Sabres. With three defenseman locked in long term and Bowen Byram potentially on the way out, an inexpensive body is important. Doan could be a nice player, but will likely not have a season like Peterka did anytime soon. Even if Peterka was unwilling to sign a contract with the Sabres, they did not get enough from the Mammoth in this trade.
The fourth-overall pick would have been too much to pay for Peterka, so it is not Buffalo's fault that the Mammoth didn't give that up. But the Sabres do not have an extra pick in this draft until the fourth round. And in 2026, they do not have a second-round pick while Utah has three. Not getting any picks for Peterka shows that Kevyn Adams has seen the writing on the wall and thinks he can make the playoffs this year. Not too many people probably agree with him.
A general manager with job security would have tried to extract a pick out of the Mammoth in this deal. The Sabres need offensive talent, and Adams would have been able to scout and pick his own, as opposed to taking on four years past his draft year. Kesselring is a nice pickup, especially considering Byram could be on the move. But Doan does not replace Peterka in any way.
Sabres: C-
