The Buffalo Sabres made news late Wednesday night by completing the first blockbuster trade of the NHL offseason. They shipped disgruntled winger J.J. Peterka to the Utah Mammoth for defenseman Michael Kesselring and forward Josh Doan.
The Mammoth have since agreed to an extension with Peterka for $39.2 million over five years. Early grades on the trade are not favorable for the Sabres, the general consensus being that general manager Kevyn Adams did not get enough back in terms of value. However, at the end of the day, it may have been the right move to make the Sabres better.
Kesselring is a Big Get
The biggest piece coming back to the Sabres is Kesselring. The 25-year-old defenseman is big, physical, and a coveted right-hand shot. He stepped into a Utah blue line that was marred with key injuries last season and showed he can be a very good defensive defenseman.
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The acquisition of Kesselring checks two boxes. For one, it gives them a legitimate right-handed top four defenseman to fit into the lineup. That was a big need and the market for this kind of defenseman was thin. The Sabres paid a premium because of that.
The second part of the equation is that Kesselring should pair up with Owen Power. Defensively, Power isn’t where most want him to be, but he has shown flashes of offensive potential that made him the first-overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. With Kesselring there to handle the defensive responsibilities, it could be the key that unlocks Power’s game.
Doan Could Be a Good Fit
Doan is the other piece of the puzzle, a 23-year-old winger that has shown legitimate middle-six potential. He’s developing and looks ready to crack the lineup on a full-time basis. He plays a physical game and has enough scoring to make him intriguing.
All the talk surrounding the Sabres the last couple of years has been about how they need to get tougher to play against. In theory, Doan has that kind of abrasive aspect to his game that would be perfect for the Sabres. Whether his scoring can develop beyond extremely-complementary levels remains to be seen.
How Doan projects to the 2025-26 roster remains to be seen. Presumably, this isn’t the last move to be made, but Doan should contend for an everyday role on one of the bottom two lines unless the Sabres see something more in him right now.
Setting the Table for Another Big Move?
The 2025 NHL Draft is right around the corner and the Sabres still have their plate full. Whether they stay where they are and pick ninth overall or package the asset is still uncertain. If this is the only big move, it leaves the Sabres with a major hole offensively. Can guys like Zach Benson and Jiri Kulich make up for that?
Ideally, the Sabres will package Bowen Byram with the ninth-overall pick and some of their young prospects to make a big swing to improve their top six. That is a lot easier said than done, but this is clearly another instance where Adams took a swing when he felt like it made his team better (the Ryan McLeod trade being another example).
Finding the Right Fit
On paper, this feels like a loss for the Sabres in terms of value. Looking past that, Adams made a move to not only fill an important spot (top-four defenseman) but to help one of his top young players (Power) and make the Sabres physically tougher to play against.
Given Power’s defensive issues, not to mention team defense issues as a whole, this is a move that makes all the sense in the world. Hopefully, we can all look back on this trade a year from now and know that Adams made the Sabres better than they were in 2024-25.
