German-born Utah Mammoth winger J.J. Peterka, who left the dark hole in Buffalo over the summer for the bright lights of Salt Lake City, may be on the same Olympic line with Oiler centre Leon Draisaitl in Italy in February.

“For some reason, we’ve always missed each other when we played in the worlds. I was there and he wasn’t, or the other way around. But it’ll be awesome, being at the Olympics,” said the Munich-born Peterka, who went into Tuesday’s game against Edmonton on Utah’s dynamic, ultra-fast line with Logan Cooley and former Oil Kings winger Dylan Guenther — a line with 31 points in 10 games.

Peterka was dying on the vine with the dysfunctional Sabres, who haven’t been in the playoffs for 14 straight years, but got a lifeline when traded to Utah for top 4 D Mike Kesselring and Shane Doan’s winger/son Josh at the end of June. Ironically, the two good Utah players have lived together for two years, so neither had to look for a new roomie.

Peterka, 23, went from 38 to 50 to 68 points in his three seasons with the Sabres and was a restricted free agent there. He immediately signed a five-year deal for an AAV of $7.7 million after the trade, off his 55 goals the preceding two seasons.

One more young player in the gun rack for the red-hot 8-2 Mammoth, riding a seven-game winning streak. They’ve outscored teams 32-17 in that run and are the only NHL team with five forwards with nine or more points

One more young player, Peterka, leaving the Sabres in a trade after Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart in years past. And we know how that’s turned out.

What’s clicking for him in Utah? Just that the team is way better?

“It’s a quick team. I’m a guy who plays with a lot of speed, off the rush. It’s just a perfect fit, the way the system is here (Utah),” said Peterka, who has three goals and nine points.

Unlike Draisaitl, who left Germany to play junior in Prince Albert, Peterka stayed in the DEL. The Germans won’t have a deep team in Milan for the Olympics, but they will have Draisaitl, Peterka, centre Stutzle and defenceman Moritz Seider. That’s a nice core.

“I was able to play at a young age (teenager) in the DEL. They have a rule now where players under 21 have to play (not sitting for older vets). You can see it in players like (Oiler farmhand Josh) Samanski, how he was over there. He played more and more minutes for four years in the DEL and now he’s in North America,” he said.

How much is Draisaitl’s influence spread to the growth of hockey there?

“A lot. He’s a superstar. When you play as well as he does every night, it’s more in the media. Small kids look to North America and see a German there racking up so many nights,” said Peterka, who stayed in his home city rather than make the scary trip to Canadian juniors.

“More young players are coming over to junior or college, but you have to decide if you want to stay home and play pro. As a young guy you don’t get paid too much, maybe 30 (thousand) in the DEL. When you’re 17, that’s big bucks, for sure. More than working in a store, yeah, 100 percent,” he said.

Peterka was a huge soccer fan of Bayern Munich as a kid in his hometown, the mighty club where Edmonton’s Alphonso Davies stars. But he chose skates.

“I did play both growing up, but I always had more fun playing hockey. It was too much time for both, so had to make a decision at about 11 years old,” he said.

Could he have played pro soccer?

“I would say so. I always believed in myself. I was a centreman,” he said.

Peterka hasn’t had any interaction with Davies. They’re above his pay grade.

“No, no. Those soccer guys, they’re rock stars,” he laughed.

Hockey players back home aren’t rock stars?

“Well, Leon is in Cologne but in Munich with Bayern, there’s nothing else.”

Jack of some trades

Oiler winger Jack Roslovic isn’t on the PP or PK, but his offensive instincts have warmed him to coach Kris Knoblauch, who likes what he brings on RW with Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin. He has a shooter mentality (18 shots, eight games), plus he gets the puck into the other end. He’s not a dump-it-in guy.

He has a goal and three points, all ES, in 15 minutes a night heading into Tuesday’s game.

“Very impressed. Coming in, we knew it would be a bit of a slow start with no training camp, no exhibition games, but I’m very impressed,” said Knoblauch.

“Pretty quiet first few games to be expected with no playing time, but now he’s a very strong player for us,” he said. “We saw him score the other night (nifty short side on Thatcher Demko), which is what we want, 5-on-5 scoring, but also being able to carry the puck into the offensive zone so we don’t have to chip and chase is important. He has the skill and speed to set up some offence for us.”

Clothes make the man?

The Oilers wore their third jersey for the first of seven times this season — cream coloured body with Oilers script across the chest, navy blue and orange shoulders. The team coaches wore their cream coloured practice outfit for the morning skate. Highly debatable with this haberdashery. “I’ve never seen a coach in that light colour of track suit,” said Trent Frederic.

This ‘n that: The Oilers went with 11 F and seven D, with former Arizona blueliner Troy Stecher as No. 7. Alec Regula (concussion issue) still isn’t ready to play after being blasted by Evander Kane two and a half weeks ago, but is practising. David Tomasek and Ike Howard were the two forwards on a fourth Oiler line (Tomasek is on the first power play, so he gets extra ice-time, but Howard is on the little-used second PP), so his minutes might be light. Noah Philp once again was a healthy scratch, even though he has three points in six games and is 52.2 per cent on face-offs. Curtis Lazar sat, too… Zach Hyman rotated in with the fourth line at the morning skate, taking shots, but until he’s taking part in battle drills to see how his dislocated wrist holds up after surgery, when he returns is up in the air. He’s eligible to play Saturday after being on LTIR for 24 days and 10 games, but he needs some practice time… Utah C Nick Schmaltz, UFA next July, is tied with Eichel and Evgeni Malkin (16 points) in the scoring race… Cooley (seven goals, 10 points) has the second fastest speed in the first month (23.97 miles an hour), after Connor McDavid’s 24.61 mph… Mammoth have the best practice facility in the league, in an old Macy’s department store. It’s 146,000 square feet with two rinks and a gym that is 8,000 square feet, with 40 yards of turf. The team offices are there… The Mammoth are missing top 4 D Sean Durzi (shoulder, week-to-week) and forward Alex Kerfoot (core muscle surgery, two months).