SABRES TRADE PETERKA, CLIFTON; SIGN QUINN TO SHORT TERM EXTENSION
The Sabres’ busy week began on Thursday, when they traded JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth for two NHLers, Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan. No draft picks were involved in this trade, just a straight up, 2-for-1 player trade. This weekend signaled the end of the initial plan that the Kevyn Adams Administration had when first taking power five years ago.
Let’s go back to the 2020 NHL Draft, pushed back to October following the COVID pause, when newly-promoted General Manager Kevyn Adams made two bold decisions that would define the Sabres during his tenure. With the 8th overall pick, Adams decided to select the scoring winger Jack Quinn, despite his playmaking centerman from juniors, Marco Rossi, still being available. On the second day, the Sabres made a trade with the San Jose Sharks, packaging the 38th and 100th overall picks to move up to 34th overall. With that third selection in the second round, the Sabres selected John-Jason Peterka, a young scoring winger from the German men’s league. By trading up for Peterka, the Sabres didn’t end up drafting another player until the 5th round, proving that the value they saw in Peterka was extremely valuable.
Fast forward to this past season, where Quinn wrapped up his third full NHL season with a career-high 15 goals and 39 points. Mind you, the 2024-25 campaign was a reset for Quinn, who played just 27 games the year prior, missing an overwhelming majority of games due to injuries. Announced on Friday, the Sabres have extended Quinn with a two-year contract, averaging just under $3.5 million per year.
Adams had this to say on Quinn’s extension: “He's had some challenges, you know, just with the health and the diversity, and I think physically, he wasn't where he needed to be last year, and some of that was out of unfortunate circumstance.” Adams continued, “He's going to come back better. So this is a contract that puts him in a position to kind of take the next step, and we're super excited about it. I think Jack's got a huge upside in front of him.”
Clearly, the injuries that Quinn has dealt with gives the now 23-year-old more time to prove himself as a top-six forward, with a longer leash than his draft-classmate Peterka, who had performed in three full NHL seasons without injury issues.
Peterka had a steady increase in production since his draft year, leading AHL rookies in scoring in 2021-22, garnering All-Rookie Team honors. Peterka, who was electrifying in the second half of the season, finished as a finalist for the league’s Rookie of the Year Award, won by Jack Quinn, who was far more consistent in his production throughout the campaign. In the 2022-23 season, the first official year of his rookie contract, Peterka recorded 32 points, helping the Sabres compete for a playoff spot until the final week of the season, falling just short. The following year, Peterka’s production nearly doubled, putting up 28 goals and 50 points. Further development this past season, as a full-time top-six winger, the 23-year old posted 27 goals and 68 points in the final year of his rookie contract.
As GM Adams says, it was clear pretty early on that Peterka did not want to resign in Buffalo, and given the tire-spinning motion that the organization seems to have been stuck in, it’s hard to blame the blossoming sniper for wanting out. Aside from his own displeasure with the organization, Peterka’s perceived defensive downfalls seem to make trading home much more palatable for the Sabres, who flip him for two physical NHLers.
Josh Doan, the son of former longtime Arizona Coyote captain Shane Doan, was drafted by the ‘Yotes in the second round of the 2021 draft (four picks after Buffalo selected Prokhor Poltapov, who has yet to make his NHL debut). After two years of point-per-game production at Arizona State University, Doan led the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL in points with 46 in his rookie campaign, earning a call-up to the Coyotes to end the season. Playing in the same rink that he did in college, Doan was right at home with Arizona (literally; he was born and raised in Scottsdale), scoring two goals in his NHL debut at Mullett Arena.
Since then, the Coyotes’ franchise folded, their players sold to the Utah Hockey Club, and played the inaugural season in Salt Lake City this past season. Doan had to earn his stripes this past season, beginning the year in the AHL, playing 28 games with Tucson, before ending his official rookie year with Utah, where Doan put up 19 points in 51 NHL games. The 23-year-old right winger comes to Buffalo at 6-feet tall, weighing in at around 200 pounds. For his size, Doan plays a physical style of hockey, with a habit of parking in front of the opponents’ net offensively. That’s a big difference from Peterka, who was instinctively a perimeter player in the offensive zone.
While Doan is an intriguing addition, the centerpiece of this trade was right-shot defenseman, and Doan’s roommate in Utah, Michael Kesselring, who immediately slots into Buffalo’s lineup in the top two pairs, with either former first overall left-shots Rasmus Dahlin or Owen Power. Kesselring comes to Buffalo with a bit more experience. A sixth round selection by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2018 Draft, the 6-foot defenseman advanced from the USHL to playing college hockey for two seasons at Northeastern University, but did not cross paths with Sabre goalie Devon Levi. Kesselring was signed to his entry-level contract after his collegiate season wrapped up in 2021, joining the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors for a playoff run that was abnormal, ending after Bakersfield won the divisional playoffs, due to the pandemic.
Kesselring spent two full seasons with the Condors, before being traded to Arizona on March 2, 2023. The next night, Kesselring made his NHL debut, then split time the rest of season with the Coyotes and the Roadrunners in the AHL. Despite starting the 2023-24 campaign in Tucson, the ‘Yotes recalled Kesselring in November, earning his spot as a full time NHLer with his steady defense, and big-league shot offensively. In just over two NHL seasons, with Arizona and then last year in Utah, Kesselring has accrued 53 points in 156 games, maintaining a positive “plus-minus”, on the ice for more goals for than against.
Utah, who signed big fish free agent defenseman Mikhail Sergachev last summer, wanted to make a splash to bring in an emerging forward scorer, leading to the trade for Peterka this past week. To add more reason for this deal, Sabres assistant captain Tage Thompson, also an Arizona native, recently won gold with Team USA at the IIHF World Championship, with both Doan and South Carolinian Kesselring as teammates. Thompson spoke highly of the newly acquired players, saying, “I can tell you that both of them are extremely hard-working guys… Both [are] really good character guys, guys that everyone in the locker room wants to be around and hang out with. I think they’re going to fit in with our group really nicely.”
In a subsequent trade at the Draft, the Sabres dealt depth defenseman Connor Clifton and the 39th overall pick to Pittsburgh in exchange for two defensemen. Standing at 6-foot-2, Conor Timmins split time last season with Toronto and the Penguins, as a consistent NHLer. At 26 years-old, Timmins is a native of St. Catherines, Ontario, and another right handed defenseman. Isaac Belliveau, 22, split last season between Pittsburgh’s AHL and ECHL affiliates.
SABRES BOLSTER DEFENSIVE PROSPECT POOLS AT DRAFT
With their nine selections in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, the Sabres added to their organizational depth with needed defensive prospects filling out the system.
At 9th overall, Buffalo selected right shot defenseman Radim Mrtka, a 6-foot-6 220 pound force who stands out with impressive agility, speed, and a physical defensive style that had him slotted as high as 5th in some pre-draft rankings. This past season, Mrtka left his native Czechia, after playing ten games in the Men’s league, to instead join the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Hockey League, where he broke out and rocketed up draft boards. Mrtka is likely to spend a full season with the Thunderbirds this coming season, with no rush to make an immediate impact in Buffalo.
With their third round pick, at 71st overall, the Sabres doubled down on their biggest need in the prospect pipeline, adding another big, right shot defenseman, David Bedkowski. At 6-foot-4, 221 pounds, Bedkowski was noted as the most physically dominant player in the draft, with a nose for big hits and aggression all over the ice. His highlight reel for this past season with the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL is jam packed with bone-crushing hits, I highly recommend watching a few clips if you need a pick-me-up during your lunch break.
Buffalo added four forward prospects, two goaltenders, and one more defensive prospect with their remaining seven selections beyond the 3rd round, all of which are unlikely to reach the NHL, given Adams track record for drafting. In his five prior draft classes, only two players drafted beyond the first round have made their NHL debuts, that being JJ Peterka and 2021 7th round pick Tyson Kozak.
The Sabres recently drafted prospects are donning the blue and gold at the Sabres Development Camp, which opens today. The week-long camp at LECOM HarborCenter culminates with scrimmages open to the public on Thursday. Here’s the full schedule of practices open to fans throughout the week (from Sabres.com):
- Monday, June 30 | 1:30 – 3 p.m. | Practice
- Tuesday, July 1 | 9 – 10:30 a.m. | Practice
- Wednesday, July 2 | 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Practice
- Thursday, July 3 | 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Scrimmage
All times are subject to change; stay tuned to Sabres.com and the Sabres’ social media channels for potential updates.
OUTRO
This has been The Scoreboard, presented by Zenner and Ritter Heating and Cooling for Monday June 30th. I’m Jack Kreuzer for Buffalo Toronto Public Media Sports.
