Utah Mammoth Acquire Peterka, Trade Doan and Kesselring to the Buffalo Sabres
hey everyone welcome back to 996 style if it wasn’t 8 a.m I would definitely have a beer in my hand for this doozy of a trade another huge trade just around the draft for Bill Armstrong last year he trades Connor Geeky and JJ Moser for Sergeev this year two days one day before the draft trades Josh Stone and Michael Kesler for JJ Purka to the Buffalo Sabres purka 6 feet tall 189 lbs 23 years old for this power forward winger purka is a big confident natural goal scorer can you name me a big natural goal scorer on Utah currently no you can’t maybe it’s a Gilla maybe it’s Kob Dwent maybe it’s Daniel Boot but as a developed NHL ready already done it in the NHL goal scorer this is JJ Purka had 27 goals 68 points in 77 games played this past season last season he had 28 goals for 50 points and his first year in the league 12 goals 32 points in 77 games played he signs an extension with Utah along with the trade 5 years $7.7 million a little bit rich but we’re entering this new world where the salary cap is rising exponentially every off season in free agency this would have got him for sure over eight maybe $9 million he was a restricted free agent so unrestricted free agency if he was in that category definitely eight or nine if you want this production you’re looking at higher dollar numbers so to get him at 7.7 in the open market open market it’s pretty good although he now becomes the second highest player on Utah behind Sergeev so he’s making more than Keller and Gunther kulie still needs to sign a contract for sure i think Koulie is going to get more points than Purka so you’re probably looking at an 8 or $ 8.5 maybe $9 million contract for Kulie who’s eligible to sign a contract starting July 1st but back to Purka drafted in 2020 in the second round josh Don was drafted in the second round a year later and look at the progression of Purka already this is the pedigree of being drafted in the second round i always harp on our second round bus i hate using that word but Julian Lutz drafted in the second round also from Germany also friends with Purka maybe Lutz gets his uh behind in gear and performs well maybe he could perform better and maybe grab a spot for Utah but Julian Lutz uh fed off in Russia another second round pick hasn’t amounted to anything and then we’ll get to Josh Stone later but back to Purka he competes hard he’s got that dog in him he’s got a tremendous release he loved to He loves to score he knows where to go in the offensive zone to score and when the puck’s on his stick more than likely it’s going in the back of the net he confidently and definitively plays in the top six it’s not a question mark so that fills in that role in that second line for that top six scoring big winger if you know you keep all the lines the same maybe he plays with Hayden and Schmaltz but we look at what happened a couple weeks ago in the world championships for team USA keller Kulie and Taage Thompson obliterated that tournament they had immediate chem so maybe Purka becomes that Tae Thompson like player purka and Thompson are are similar players even though Thompson obviously is a better player but Purka fills in that big body role scoring role to complement Kulie and Keller so maybe we see that as a topline for Utah moving forward he can break out even more purka can to 35 goals some people say he might regress his shooting percentage was a bit high even if he regresses what’s he regressing to 25 goals like that’s pretty good for the Utah team obviously for 7.7 you want him to eclipse 30 and I think he will play with a more competitive team a more skilled team a team that plays the right way they play defense first so you’re not being your morale isn’t being brought down with all these goals against they’re pretty tight games and so maybe he could perform well being with playing in the Utah Mammoth top six moving to who we lost uh Josh Stone and Michael Kesser for me like I need to be I’ll do objectively first and then I’ll go to personal and subjective at the end i’m pretty sure no one cares about that but objectively Josh Don was never projected to be a top six player for Utah for me I was fine with him being a third line power forward winger being that sort of loss and Krauss type player but there was a spot for Don in the top six this whole season with Utah it was a revolving door for that second line wing position like I said that was empty you know we were trying Caronei trying Machelli trying Yamamoto and still Josh Don couldn’t elevate his game to grab that spot even though it was open i think maybe that’s why Bill Armstrong was like you know what the spot was there he didn’t take it i need a solidified goalcorer big body guy who could just take that whole by the reins and be that bull in a china shop type of player which Utah doesn’t have he could be a sort of Tae Thompson dryidal McKinnon type of player he’s still young at 23 years old for Kessle he’s very underrated and I think Buffalo is going to be surprised i think a lot of people on the East Coast are going to be surprised kessle Ring is better than Josh Don i think he’s a great piece for Buffalo to get i’m a bit you know I’m surprised Bill Aron walked away from Kesser but to get a quality type of caliber player in Purka you got to make some losses but I have nothing bad things to say about Kessering he’s big he could move he’s got a great wrist shot he’s got all the tools he could fight he’s gritty he’s hard to compete against it’s just he needs to work on just being consistent with all those things he shows flashes of all those great things but game in and game out he just needs to be that player and he struggled a bit this season to be consistent when we were decimated on the blue line Karen got promoted to top four pairing minute minutes and he succeeded without Kering I think this team would have been way down in the standings so he could play up high in your pairings for me I I thought in the future he would be a great perfect third pairing defenseman because you know he’s not a third pairing defenseman he could be a great second pairing guy but that that’s what depth is to have a second pairing guy on your third pair so to move on from Kessle Ring um that’s a great player to lose i thought for sure I would have been more happy if they traded Lamaroo instead of Kessle Ring i think I like what Kessle Ring brings more than Lamaroo but you got Lamaru and Simichev battling for spots next year and now Kustle Ring spot is wide open probably Valamaki will be sent on waiverss to Tucson traded or just moved on from so now there’s kind of two spots open on the defense side of things so now I’ll get to the uh personal side of it i really hope this trade doesn’t disrupt the locker room kessler was best Kessler and Dome were best friends with they were all over social media together this Utah team is a very tight-knit brotherhood and so when when these trades happen it’s like I really hope it doesn’t disrupt the locker room cuz that’s a very special place but I don’t think it will and I loved Shane Don he was one of my favorite players growing up watching the Coyotes so to have his son on the team I cheer for was great it was gravy i love that idea i love the idea of a Ginless son and Don’s son two of my favorite players growing up cheering for their sons on my favorite team like that was a dream and now unfortunately that dream is dead for Don and honestly I feel sorry for Joan he’s got to he’s got to move across the country he loves Arizona his whole family lives in Arizona he always visits Arizona he was there like last week for a community event he’s going to be on the east coast in Buffalo pretty much alone but his dad works for Toronto about you know 2hour drive if there’s no traffic maybe an hour and a half drive if there’s no traffic if there’s traffic could be a four to 5 hour drive but at least his dad’s there in the East Coast in the same division but it must be hard for Josh his dad was never traded so obviously it’s new for the family for me like yeah I’ve been through this a lot you gotta not be emotionally attached to these players and I know Utah loves every single one of their players like there’s this whole donor community of you know girls and guys they drink Red Bulls i’m pretty I don’t do too much of social media but they love Josh Don they named their fan club after Don so you can’t It’s hard that’s why I never buy player jerseys anymore the last player jersey I bought was DOI that Keller All-Star jersey in my videos was a gift from a subscriber so yeah like these horror trades I’ve been through it a lot of times doi was one was a favorite player of mine he got traded D’vorak Garland Keer Chickran i mean at this point I’m pretty numb to it objectively I think this trade makes Utah way better it’s a trade they needed it’s a player they do not have a true power forward big scorer who could put the puck in the net dome was getting so many chances on that line with Mc Bane and Krauss that line was getting so many chances they couldn’t put the puck in the net and I said that in the season review was saying it all season they had so much trouble scoring they got to just put the puck in the net and uh enough of this you know feelgood morale of oh look you know their analytics are good they’re getting the chances just wait just wait like no now we just got to put the puck in the net and to get a natural goal scorer for $7.5 million for 5 years so that takes him to 28 years old uh fits the core perfectly he’s developed he’s already NHL ready he scored nearly 30 goals twice in the NHL like there’s no development here you just inject them into your lineup and your goal scoring should go up and hopefully he has that chemistry that Tae Thompson did with Keller and at the World Championships or Team USA and yeah it’s a big one uh we’re obviously all going to have to sit on this uh it’s very tough to move on from Don and Kessering but uh you know Bill Armstrong he’s a monster uh this guy so that’s it for me thank you for watching if you like what you see spread the word and as always thank you for your
Bill “The Monster” Armstrong does it again with a HUGE trade right at Draft time.
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17 Comments
WTF just happened
Great trade!!! TUSKS UP!!!
Great trade emotional cannot get in the way of these decisions
I am going to run with your objective view that this will make us better. even though we lost 2 of my favs
Good trade, but… um… Peterka is NOT a power forward 🙂 Fast, goal-scorer, yes.
Fantastic trade for the mammoth
What many people don't realize is that this trade represents a return for good asset management by GMBA. The two pieces that made this trade happen were the result of trading away assets before the trade deadline. The second-round 2021 pick for Josh Doan came from trading away 30-year-old C Derek Stepan to Ottawa in December 2020. Michael Kesselring was included with a third-round pick in a March 2023 trade with Edmonton for F Nick Bjugstad (who was later re-signed in Arizona). This is how you build a contender.
Sabres being the Sabres as usual
If you think you're getting a power forward in peterka you're gonna be gravely underwhelmed
No disrespect to Doaner and Kess, but Holy Moly what a move! Tusks up!
Im happy for GMBA but very sad to see Doaner and Kesselring go….Oilers must be kicking themselves for trading Kesselring for Bjugstadt at the deadline a few years back…they might have a Cup if they kept him over guys like Stecher and Kulak…
Utah was have to teach him how to play in his end. Good scorer but a liability in his own zone
Lol, you really dont understand hockey. Go to work!
Let’s offer cole,obrien,stenlund and a 5th rounder for Thompson and dahlin next
Ok let’s not get crazy here, you can’t compare Peterka to MacKinnon and draisaitl 😂
Hello, Houwly, I mentioned it a few month ago to sign Peterka and Armstrong did. A bit sad to see Kesselring moving. This kit had apart from some black moments a great season. So we are going ahead and the next victim should be Connor Garland and Nicola Ehlers. If this would be possible, the play off's will be guaranteed, lol.
Peterka small, soft . . . When he arrives good luck trying to explain what the word "check" means! You will never win a cup with a player like this.