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It already looked pretty clear this season that the Buffalo Sabres may have won the JJ Peterka trade.
They sent Peterka in June to the Utah Mammoth in exchange for Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring. This season, Doan broke out.
Kesselring hasn't played much, but that hasn't even mattered in the evaluation of the deal.
The big difference has been between Doan and Peterka.
Doan, the son of long-time NHL player Shane Doan, has kept getting better. But with the Mammoth, Peterka has taken a big step back.
He didn't play a single second in overtime of the Mammoth's Game 4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights a couple nights ago, and he appears to be dropped to the fourth line for Game 5.
Peterka, benched for half the 3rd and OT in Game 4 and now skates on the 4th line for a critical game? https://t.co/bqjdrtZO7k
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) April 29, 2026MORE: Sabres' fans show they can handle 'O Canada' with no microphone help
The comments from Utah suggested that Peterka's benching was about how he was playing, but there wasn't more detail than that. The Mammoth said things had been addressed in the locker room and that would be that.
Whatever they addressed apparently wasn't enough to get Peterka back into a middle-six line at the moment.
He's still a young, talented player who can work out for Utah.
But right now, Doan is crucial for the Sabres in their own playoff push while Peterka is hardly making a noise for the Mammoth as they battle in the postseason, too.
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