The Buffalo Sabres have been in the rumor mill for quite some time. The Sabres are looking to trade defenseman Bowen Byram ahead of NHL Free Agency on July 1, for instance. Other players have also snuck into the offseason discussion, including young forward JJ Peterka.
Peterka had a career season for the Sabres in 2024-25. Unfortunately, Buffalo missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs once again. They are facing mounting pressure to finally make the postseason. But Peterka may not be around to see this happen.
Like Byram, Peterka is a restricted free agent. He needs a new contract for this upcoming season and beyond. However, there are some rumblings that he did not want to sign with the Sabres.
General manager Kevyn Adams was asked about this on Tuesday during his pre-draft press conference. The Sabres general manager could have provided clarity on this matter, but instead decided not to address the topic in any direct manner.
“I don’t think it’s productive or beneficial for me to get into specifics about our players, because this is the time of year where there’s so much going on, and there’s probably a lot of misinformation out there. I’ll leave it at that,” said Adams at the start of his Tuesday press conference, via Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550.
Sabres GM Explains JJ Peterka Question Response
Bruce Bennett/Getty ImagesThe Buffalo Sabres may be exploring the trade market for JJ Peterka.
Adams had the opportunity to confirm whether these reports were true, either way. And it isn’t as if he has any aversion to discussing these sorts of reports. In fact, he directly responded to rumors around a Mattias Samuelsson buyout during this press conference.
“Someone has no idea what they’re talking about, reporting that we were going to buy Sammy out,” Adams said, via Sabres reporter Justin Alpert. “We’ve never had that conversation once. It’s ridiculous.”
However, the Peterka reports did not get the treatment. The difference, according to Adams, is timing. The Buffalo general manager believes now is not the time to put any specifics on this topic.
“I don’t want to say yes or no, because I don’t think it’s the right time. I can probably after the draft get into more specifics, but I just don’t think it’s fair to the player to even respond to that. I get memos on my desk from PR on things, and I feel bad for our fans, the stuff that’s out there. There’s so much misinformation and so much of it is nonsense,” he said, via Hamilton.
What Reports Say About Peterka Trade
Current reporting on Peterka’s situation has evolved somewhat since the start of the offseason. At first, the Sabres were less inclined to listen despite Peterka’s reported desire to leave. Now, it seems as if this has changed.
“It’s believed he would like to go somewhere else, and I just think that reality is sinking in a bit,” Sportsnet Elliotte Friedman said on the June 15th episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast. “I think the Sabres realize they have to at least look into it, and I think in the last little bit it’s gone from ’we don’t want to do it and we’re not doing it’ to ’we don’t want to do it but we at least have to look into it.’”
We won’t know for sure what’s going on until something happens. Whether this be a trade or Adams changing his tune and confirming one way or the other. Until then, Sabres fans will need to monitor this situation ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft and NHL Free Agency.
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