JJ Peterka TRADED to @UtahMammoth! #nhl #hockey #buffalosabres #utahmammoth #sports
as last night it was revealed that the Buffalo Sabres had acquired forward Josh Don and defenseman Michael Kessler from the newly renamed Utah Mammoth in exchange for JJ Purka so Purka has joined the Utah Mammoth he’s got that change of scenery that he was looking for while Buffalo also brings in a couple of young early to mid 20year-old players then shortly after the trade was announced it was also revealed that Purka had signed a five-year contract with Utah worth an average annual value of 7.7 million a season so Purka is officially off the RFA market no team’s going to get the chance to offer sheet him he’s he’s locked in with Utah for the next half a decade at the very least and also to the right of me the fact that he’s going to be a UFA in 2030 at the age of 28 years old if things keep going the way that they’re going if Purka can remain a a roughly if not point a game player in the National Hockey League with Utah he’s going to be slap bang in the middle of his prime at 28 years old once his UFA status arrives and he hits the open market so uh Utah very happy to pick up Purka and Purka very happy to stick with them for the next half a decade and get a decent amount of money as a result so we know that Utah acquired a 23-year-old high potential forward recent 27 goalcorer in the league on a pretty solid contract $7.7 million for the next 5 years and all signs indicate that with the right players around him he’s only going to keep getting better and better as the years go by but what about the Buffalo Sabres what did they acquire in this deal well first off they had Josh Don who is of course son of longtime NHL legend Shane Don uh he’s only a couple of weeks older than JJ Purka which I thought was really interesting their birthdays are separated by like a fortnight and Don hasn’t quite found his place in the NHL like Purka has these last few years uh Don is a former second round draft pick of the Arizona Coyotes his dad I believe either made the pick or called him straight after the pick was made so to see Don leave the the organization that his dad had a a huge impact on is kind of sad in a way and I I wouldn’t be surprised if the Don family was a little upset with this deal but that being said uh the last couple of years Don has bounced between kind of the NHL squad whether it be the Arizona Coyotes or the Utah Hockey Club as well as their AHL affiliate the Tucson Road Runners he’s played very well in Tucson the last few years and he got more of an opportunity to play with the big club last year in Utah he had seven goals 19 points in 51 games so he’s not terrible he’s definitely a player that still has a lot of potential but it’s certainly not to the point that you know JJ Purker is at least at this point in time and then also the Sabres pick up Michael Kessle Ring who is a 25-year-old defenseman former sixthround pick by the Edmonton Oilers back in 2018 and Kessle Ring’s kind of been a very pleasant surprise for the Utah hockey club recently uh in the 23-24 season he had 21 points in 65 games with a plus 11 rating and for a sixth round pick kind of jumping into a rebuilding or constant rebuilding Coyote’s team that’s that’s very impressive to say the least
