The city of Buffalo was a mystery to J-J Peterka.
Almost a year had passed since the Sabres selected Peterka in the second round, 34th overall, when he finally stepped off a plane here on Saturday. Peterka knows this is where he wants to fulfill his dream of starring in the National Hockey League, yet his knowledge of Buffalo was limited to what he was told by the club and former Sabre Derek Roy, a teammate the previous two seasons in Munich, Germany.
The Prospects Challenge is returning this week, as midweek practices will precede a pair of weekend games for Buffalo.
Recently, his arrival was delayed again because of an issue with his visa.
“I was like, so curious about it, so excited the whole last year,” beamed Peterka. “Then first I had visa problems getting here, so that was another problem. But I’m finally here, and I like it.”
The Covid-19 pandemic prevented Peterka from visiting Buffalo sooner, as the Sabres did not hold a development camp or Prospects Challenge in 2020. He hadn’t met any of his future teammates, and conversations with his new bosses were limited to video or phone calls.
People are also reading…
Successful surgery on an ACL led to winger Lukas Rousek's omission from the Buffalo Sabres' roster for their Prospects Challenge, a league source told The Buffalo News on Tuesday.
Peterka will have to wait a little while longer to receive a tour of the city. The 19-year-old winger will spend most of this week on the ice in LECOM Harborcenter as one of 23 players, 14 of which are under contract or drafted recently, competing for the Sabres in the Prospects Challenge. The team’s first game is against the New Jersey Devils on Friday at 7 p.m., and the event is open to the public at $10 per ticket.
General manager Kevyn Adams and owner Terry Pegula watched Wednesday as Peterka scored a shootout goal during a 90-minute practice run by Rochester Americans coach Seth Appert. Peterka’s talent tantalized while skating alongside 2020 first-round draft choice Jack Quinn, who will play center during the pair of weekend games, and Brett Murray.
These practices and games will serve as a tune-up for Peterka before the Sabres and coach Don Granato open NHL training camp on Sept. 23, the first chapter in a new era for the struggling franchise. While Peterka is more likely to start the season in Rochester, he will have the opportunity to show why he should call Buffalo home sooner than later.
“He’s buzzing,” Appert said of Peterka. “You can feel the energy from him and that’s important. Those are exciting things for our franchise, to have players of his caliber. … Everybody, even the guys who were here last year and played for us … even some of these guys who played in Buffalo, very few of them have had a real NHL training camp, a real NHL rookie camp and a rookie tournament. These are important things, to start establishing themselves in a franchise but also for us to start establishing the identity we want to keep building moving forward.”
Sabres brass wants Peterka to play a prominent role in that plan. He may not be far from helping, either. Although this will be Peterka’s first season in North America, he spent the past two years competing against men in Germany’s top professional league. The results were promising, as Peterka finished the 2020-21 season with nine goals and 20 points in 30 games for EHC Red Bull Munchen.
"I think it's a really interesting camp that is coming on and I'm really excited for it," Luukkonen said.
The Sabres list Peterka at 5-foot-10, 181 pounds for the prospects challenge, but he appears strong enough to hold his own against bigger players. Peterka did not shy away from contact during his first practice, pinning opponents along the wall to try to regain possession and driving to the net to try to create scoring opportunities.
His movements appeared effortless when he gathered the puck at center ice for a shootout attempt, skated down the left side and beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen with a quick shot between the leg pads. It was the scoring touch that made the Sabres trade up to draft Peterka last year, one of Adams’ first prominent transactions on the job.
Some teams – including the Pittsburgh Penguins, according to now Sabres assistant general manager Jason Karmanos – had Peterka ranked as a first-round talent. When he surprisingly fell to the second, Adams and his staff moved quickly to secure the talented German winger.
“He’s a dynamic athlete and an explosive hockey player,” Appert said. “Certainly excited to really now get the chance to be on the ice and start working with him, and then we’ll see what happens at camp. … J-J is one of those rare guys that has the speed and the skill and explosiveness of elite, dynamic offensive players, but also has the lurking goal-scoring ability that more of the intelligent offensive players have. He’s shown at the younger age groups to have that really good combination of speed mixed with the cerebral goal-scoring ability that all special goal-scorers have.”
At the time of Peterka’s selection by Buffalo, he had shown an innate ability to create time and space in the offensive zone, but that success occurred against his peers. He had seven points in six games at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship. Competing against men in Germany was more of a struggle, as Peterka had only 11 points in 42 games for the 2019-20 season.
The 19-year-old goalie broke Carey Price’s record at the IIHF World Junior Championship with a .964 save percentage in seven games for Canada at the annual tournament.
The Covid-19 pandemic delayed the start of last season, causing Peterka to join EHC Salzburg in Austria, where he had seven goals and 16 points in only 12 games. Then came a bigger role in Germany, where he again played under coach Don Jackson, a former NHL assistant.
Most impressive was Peterka’s performance at world juniors. He had four goals and 10 points in only five games for Germany. Again, Peterka wasn’t as productive against older competition, as he had one goal in six games at the IIHF World Championship this spring.
Still, the Sabres saw enough from Peterka to sign him to a three-year, entry-level contract.
“I think playing in different leagues, first in the Austrian League and getting some experience there,” Peterka said when asked about his growth last season. “I think also my confidence grew there. So, I mean, it was fun playing there and then world juniors was also I think a good tournament for me, especially for Team Germany, first time making the finals. Back in Munich, I think I had a bigger role that year. It was a lot of fun to play there.”
The Sabres will need goal-scorers to complement Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt, but it’s unclear whether Peterka is ready for that responsibility. He can use a stint in Rochester to round out his game and learn how to produce consistently against older, stronger competition. The next few weeks will decide his short-term fate, but if his practice Wednesday was an indication, Peterka won’t have to wait as long for a second trip to Buffalo.