Welcome back to NHL Rumours! The Stanley Cup Final is currently underway with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl pursuing their first Stanley Cup, and the Florida Panthers looking to become the third team since the lockout year to win back-to-back Stanley Cups. Superstars are all over the ice in the Final so far. But outside the playoffs, Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff thinks an offer sheet could be made to a superstar in the making.

NHL Rumour
Could JJ Peterka Get Offer Sheeted Away From the Sabres?

Rumour: Frank Servaalli’s article lists a handful of players that make good offer sheet candidates. One of those players is JJ Peterka, who he also listed as his #1 trade target in a different article. While Kevyn Adams has publicly said he wants to keep JJ Peterka, a shakeup could be coming. Peterka is a current Restricted Free Agent, needing a new contract. If that isn’t accomplished by July 1st, options become available for the young forward.

Analysis: JJ Peterka is a piece to the puzzle getting out of a 14-year-long playoff drought, if he is not with the Sabres by the end of the summer, it could be devastating. An offer sheet for JJ Peterka is worst case scenario for the Sabres. The 23 year old had 68 points in 77 games played this past season, losing a player with those types of statistics at such a young age would definitely leave a scar. JJ Peterka will be successful, just depends on what team’s jersey he’s wearing next season.

Why an Offer Sheet Seems Unlikely

It is a surprise to many that Kevyn Adams is still the general manager of the Sabres. But, it feels very unlikely Kevyn Adams would let JJ Peterka get offer sheeted. Seravalli predicts a 2 years x $9,360,152 offer sheet. The draft pick compensation for that would be a 2026 1st, 2026 2nd and 2026 3rd Round Picks. The last thing the Sabres need right now is draft pick compensation for a really good NHL calibre player. Even if a team went above and beyond and crossed the threshold where they’d have to give up 2 first round picks, it would still be a nightmare for the Sabres.

If Kevyn Adams is certain he cannot get an extension signed with JJ Peterka, a trade feels significantly more likely than an offer sheet. The Sabres have plenty of prospects still, and need NHL ready players now. Not to mention a lot more teams will be open to trading for Peterka rather than offer sheeting him, thus increasing the Sabres return. However, let’s dive into the hypothetical scenario where he is offer sheeted by one of the teams capable of doing so.

What Teams Could Make the Offer Sheet

According to Seravalli’s article, the teams capable (meet pick requirement): Anaheim, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Detroit, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Montréal, Nashville, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Utah, Vegas.

Let us assume it will take the $9.3 million dollar mark to offer sheet Peterka, that can help us eliminate certain teams from this list. Such as Vegas, with only 9 forwards signed and a projected $9.6 million in cap space, it’s not feasible for them to make an offer sheet. So they’re out.

We can eliminate both Edmonton and Montreal with the same logic. It would be incredibly tough for New Jersey as well, so we’ll go ahead and eliminate them for this as well.

JJ Peterka at $9.3 million would likely command a top-six role, we can eliminate teams that as of right now are not in the market for a top-six forward. We can’t imagine Anaheim is in the market for a young forward, given they have many players like Peterka already in their lineup.

Pittsburgh is a team that has the opportunity and the cap space. However, they cannot afford to give up their draft picks. With an aging core and many players still riding out long-term deals, it doesn’t seem likely they would want to make an offer.

Teams That Could Potentially Make an Offer Sheet if Available

After eliminating a handful of teams, the ones remaining are: Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, Philadelphia, Seattle and Utah. Here’s why JJ Peterka would make sense for each of these teams.

Boston: The Bruins had their worst year in a long time but still have some good pieces on their roster. Swayman, McCavoy, and Pastrnak especially. They’ve got the cap space. If Peterka would be a bruin, he would play alongside Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm on the top line. Peterka would likely do well playing with that level of elite talent.

Calgary: The Flames could use more top-end talent to play with Jonathan Huberdeau. They were close to making the post season this past year, with tremendous help from Dustin Wolf. Potentially JJ Peterka would be the piece they need to punch their ticket in 2025-2026.

Chicago: The Blackhawks need help, everywhere. JJ Peterka would certainly help out the other young players on the roster. But adding a $9.3 million dollar forward to an already incredibly young team doesn’t necessarily move the needle for them. Bedard and Peterka on the same line would be pretty fun to watch though.

Detroit: The Red Wings took a step back after missing the playoffs the year before on a tiebreaker. They have some pretty big contracts upfront to Lucas Raymond, Alex Debrincat, and Dylan Larkin. So it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to throw another expensive young forward into that mix. But Peterka would fit in with their speed and skilled style of play.

Los Angeles: The Kings feel like one of the more likely teams to make an offer sheet for Peterka. They’ve got the cap space, no massive players they need to resign. After four-straight years of losing to Edmonton in the first round, they’ll be desperate to add in free agency and get over that hump.

Nashville: The Predators had a difficult season to say the least. They made big swings last offseason to acquire Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. That amounted to a seventh-place finish in the central last season. Adding a $9 million per year forward to that mix doesn’t really fix their problems. But they’ve got the space, and will be looking to change things around, maybe a move is incoming.

Philadelphia: The Flyers could be looking to add another skilled forward to help their roster. Michkov shows tremendous promise, but adding Peterka right now as they transition out of the John Tortorella era could pay dividends. Who knows, being young and getting out of Buffalo in your prime is something Daniel Briere knows about.

Seattle: The Kraken just don’t have a superstar. They’ve got some solid pieces around their lineup but honestly no great players. Adding Peterka to that mix could be their answer. A guy who can put up 70-80 points is something the Kraken will want. However, they paid some players big time last offseason, they may be reluctant to do the same this year.

Utah: Peterka in those new Mammoth jerseys would be a sight to see. The Mammoth do have some young players they’ll need to pay soon, but that won’t stop them. Utah has been aggressive with their new ownership. It feels likely they’ll take a stab at Peterka if he is available. They aren’t paying a lot of players and it seems like it would be a good fit for Peterka.

Overall, the cap is going up, teams have money to spend. Peterka is a 23 year old who has shown he can put up 60 plus points a year. If he is available for an offer sheet in July, a team will make it. If a team does make an offer, here’s who we think it’ll be.

Top-three teams likely to make a move: Utah, Chicago, Los Angeles

Main Photo: Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images