[Trade] Sabres trade Peterka (5yrs, $7.7 mil AAV) to Utah for Kesselring and Josh Doan.

[The Original FFIV]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I think Honzek is probably closer value to Doan than Battaglia

And I agree with those who think the Sabres did fairly well here.

Seems apparent that the league views Peterka as a one dimensional scoring winger and is valued accordingly. Initial thoughts were a fleece job (and still might be for Utah). But what can salvage the deal for Buffalo is if Doan pops and kesselring develops into top 4 rhd.

Wingers and goalies have the wonkiest trade values. Returns seem to be best for C and D.

They better nail the Byram deal if there is one out there.

[SuperMatt18]

Looking back it's pretty remarkable how badly Adams mismanaged what should have been a strong core Buffalo had built.

If you look at the 2020 draft when Adams took over, and look at the players the Sabres had in their organization that were U-26 years old:

Forward: Reinhart, Eichel, Thompson, Mittelstadt, Skinner, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Rodrigues, Girgensons, Olofsson

Defense: Dahlin, Ristolainen, Montour, McCabe, Colin Miller, Borgen, Samuelsson, Jokiharju

Goalie: Ullmark, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Should have been able to build a pretty good team with all those pieces.

[Rhett44]

Is Buffalo ever going to be good? Lol.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

Is Buffalo ever going to be good? Lol.

The truth is no. And the truth is while everyone goes around and blames everyone but who’s ultimately responsible, the players. Buffalo’s not good because the players don’t want to play there and the players don’t want to buy in. It’s the players. It’s not anything else.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I do think Peterka is a lot closer to Victor Olofsson than he is to Sam Reinhart. It's a very understandable gamble for Utah but I don't think it instantly transforms them or anything.

I think all three of these players are being overrated if Reinhart is being used as a comparison. I don't see Peterka as Reinhart either. I see Peterka more of a Toffoli than a Reinhart.

I don't see much upside in Doan being more than a bottom 6 guy at the NHL level. And if Kesserling is a top 4, it's just barely. On a Cup contending defense, he's a bottom pairing defenseman IMO. Until he actually plays top 4 minutes and excels at it, I'm skeptical. He'll be 26 before the All-Star break, so he could be pretty close to reaching his potential at this point. I'll split the difference call him a 4/5 guy.

So the way I see it:

Peterka (2nd line scoring winger)

for

Doan (Bottom 6 winger)
Kesserling (2nd-3rd pairing defenseman)

Neither of the latter are bad players by any means, but I have only a small amount of doubt that Utah is walking away with the best player in the trade.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Oh man. I just realized that Kesselring was originally drafted by the Oilers. They sure are no good. They’d look so much better with McLeod, Broberg, Holloway, and Kesselring.

To make it better, he was traded for Nick Bjugstad - who promptly re-signed in Arizona in the off season.

[Cole436]

I think people are really sleeping on Kesselring here. He’s already a great defender and his ceiling is realistically a top pairing guy.

Doan I think can be a great Panthers-esque playoff performer.

This is a very bad trade for Buffalo considering what they should have gotten for JJP, but the raw assets are still pretty good.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

What were some of the offers being thrown up here for Peterka? 18OA ++?

I think someone suggested Andersson + 32nd or 18th?

Insanity some of those proposals. That contract also makes the Coronato contract look great. Matt is a better player and over a million bucks a year cheaper with an extra year tacked on.

[Sandman]

I balked at the trade at first, but I had no idea that Kesselring put up 29 points this season!

[Flamesfan05]

Buffalo has Treliving’s twin brother running the team

That’s why they are running in circle and never win anything despite having some decent players.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by musth

Seriously, how CC isn’t fleecing Adams and Alvin today, I’ll never understand

I don’t think Buffalo and Calgary make good trade partners. Buffalo doesn’t want picks and prospects. I can almost guarantee any vet on flames with a clause in contract has buffalo on it. Flames are trading Anderson. No chance they are trading another top 4 dman this year. Rumours were that buffalo wanted Zary when discussing trade for Cozens. If flames were not willing to trade Zary for a center there is no chance they would trade him for a one dimensional winger. Flames anlso can’t trade Frost considering our center depth. And no I don’t think Sharangovich has any trade value right now.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Looking back it's pretty remarkable how badly Adams mismanaged what should have been a strong core Buffalo had built.

If you look at the 2020 draft when Adams took over, and look at the players the Sabres had in their organization that were U-26 years old:

Forward: Reinhart, Eichel, Thompson, Mittelstadt, Skinner, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Rodrigues, Girgensons, Olofsson

Defense: Dahlin, Ristolainen, Montour, McCabe, Colin Miller, Borgen, Samuelsson, Jokiharju

Goalie: Ullmark, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Should have been able to build a pretty good team with all those pieces.

Ownership destroying the Eichel relationship pretty much buried Adams.

[bluejays]

I knew it wasn't for the 4th overall - that would've been overpayment bigtime. But this ultimately does seem cheaper than anticipated.


Anyway, 31 other teams had a chance to put up better offers and didn't. If I were a Sabres fan I'd be annoyed given the hype around Peterka, but again, other teams put up slightly worse offers. At the very least nobody came in with a knock-your-socks-off offer. Peterka suddenly jumped on the map and everyone in fandom seemed to value the guy, but NHL GMs have to do the same.

[Ped]

Mirtle reporting that the Leafs were in on Peterka. Shockingly, they couldn't get it done.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Looking back it's pretty remarkable how badly Adams mismanaged what should have been a strong core Buffalo had built.

If you look at the 2020 draft when Adams took over, and look at the players the Sabres had in their organization that were U-26 years old:

Forward: Reinhart, Eichel, Thompson, Mittelstadt, Skinner, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Rodrigues, Girgensons, Olofsson

Defense: Dahlin, Ristolainen, Montour, McCabe, Colin Miller, Borgen, Samuelsson, Jokiharju

Goalie: Ullmark, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Should have been able to build a pretty good team with all those pieces.

I have the Sabres in my Athletic feed, so I've read a bunch of 'what's wrong with the Sabres' articles over the last couple years. The biggest issues are:

* Bad ownership. The Pegulas have meddled in hires and hockey operations, and want a compliant GM who will do as they say. No other team in the league would have hired Lafontaine or Adams. They're also unpredictable in their spending - throwing money around freely in the early years of their ownership, but becoming much more tight-fisted in recent years.

* Culture. When they stripped it down to the studs for their rebuild, they didn't surround the young players with solid veterans. Guys like Eichel and Reinhart were treated as saviours, and ran the team before they had accomplished anything in the NHL. So the same mistake of creating a culture of entitlement that the Oilers made in the Hall/RNH/Yakupov era.

* Undesirable location. The above two flaws compound their handicap as a high-tax, bad weather, undesirable location. Players want out as soon as they have any freedom of movement.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by bluejays

I knew it wasn't for the 4th overall - that would've been overpayment bigtime. But this ultimately does seem cheaper than anticipated.


Anyway, 31 other teams had a chance to put up better offers and didn't. If I were a Sabres fan I'd be annoyed given the hype around Peterka, but again, other teams put up slightly worse offers. At the very least nobody came in with a knock-your-socks-off offer. Peterka suddenly jumped on the map and everyone in fandom seemed to value the guy, but NHL GMs have to do the same.

I think Buffalo really limited themselves by insisting on NHL players only and not getting picks or prospects. I wouldn't be surprised if there were better offers centered around futures.

[Erick Estrada]

TSN reporting that the Sabres turned down Rossi offer from Wild. Kind of makes sense as the Sabres already have Benson and Kulich.

[Sylvanfan]

It's funny that the Pegula's are such bad owners, yet the Bills under them have really turned it around. Yes getting that one player is a big reason why, but they also managed to get a good Head Coach, and front office too.

I probably don't value Kesselring enough, and really if this draft is not great, the chances of getting a better player than him in the first round might be low, and Doan could very well be better than a second round pick in this draft. So both can step in and play right away. So rather than take a first and third next year from an offtysheet, I guess they figure this might be better. It's not a deal I'm too sad about the Flames missing out on. Will be interesting to see what they sell Byrum for.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

It's funny that the Pegula's are such bad owners, yet the Bills under them have really turned it around. Yes getting that one player is a big reason why, but they also managed to get a good Head Coach, and front office too.

From what I’ve read, the Pegulas realize they know f all about the NFL, so they brought in experienced people, stepped back, and let the Bills front office do their thing. For whatever reason, they’re more hands-on with the Sabres.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

From what I’ve read, the Pegulas realize they know f all about the NFL, so thy brought in experienced people, stepped back, and let the Bills front office do their thing. For whatever reason, they’re more hands-on with the Sabres.

Probably because the Sabres aren't profitable, so they are trying to be more frugal on the management side.