Did the Buffalo Sabres Get FLEECED in the JJ Peterka Trade?

Did the Buffalo Sabres Get FLEECED in the JJ Peterka Trade?

the Buffalo Sabres have finally traded away JJ Purka to the Utah Mammoth in a move most people around the hockey world frankly expected was going to be coming purka was an RFA and it was reported that he and the Sabres were not very close in terms of salary expectations for an upcoming contract so the Sabres decided to trade him and get some assets back in return that part makes sense what doesn’t make sense though is the trade itself off the trade is JJ Purka to the Utah Mammoth who signs a 5-year extension in Utah in exchange for defenseman Michael Kessler and forward Josh Stone that’s it there are no other picks or prospects going back to the Sabres and look before I start to flame the Sabres let me just say that I understand the idea behind this trade from Buffalo side they needed a right-handed defenseman michael Kessle is very good and he’s still very young at 25 years old they add him and another potential rising middle six winger in Josh Stone that makes sense the problem is flatly just the value proposition of this trade i’ve said for a while now if you’re dealing the best player in a trade you should be getting a package back that makes people around the league say “Okay well they couldn’t really turn that down.” That is not the case here you traded away a guy who in three seasons has had 50 point years twice and has flirted with 30 goals in two of his three seasons he’s only 23 he’s going to get a lot better and he’s going to get better frankly playing alongside very talented players in Utah’s top six like Logan Koulie Dylan Gunther Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz and yes on the opposite side I do think that Michael Kessler will be able to elevate his game playing alongside either Ross Wolene or Owen Power but I’m really just baffled that Pic couldn’t even get another top 50 pick either this year or next year or just do a first round pick swap this year 4 for9 don’t think that this is a fleeing as bad as everybody’s making it seem to be but Utah 100% won this trade and I know Buffalo fans do not want to hear it but Purka could very well be Sam Reinhardt 2.0 if you look at both players age 22 and 23 seasons they are nearly identical and hell in the Sam Reinhardt prospect you got a first round pick back and a really good goalending prospect in Devon Levi yes adding Kessle Ring does mean that Bow and Byron is now more expendable and you can move him but they were already going to do that anyway i mean Buffalo hasn’t made the playoffs I’ll say it again for 15 years though they’ve been closed in the last few years and at a time where maybe it’s an inflection point where they can start to become competitive you trade away one of your better forwards and finally on the Utah side of things I’m really curious to see what they’re going to do with their fourth overall pick in the upcoming 2025 draft cuz their top six is pretty loaded i don’t know if they need to use it on a guy like Antonell or Porter Martone could they use that maybe in a pick swap to get a defenseman it opens up a lot more options for them i’m going to be very excited to see how this plays out for both teams

JJ Peterka has been traded to the Utah Mammoth and everyone is clowning on the Sabres.

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