The Buffalo Sabres continue to have an active beginning to their offseason. The team announced today that they have signed John-Jason “JJ” Peterka to a three-year entry-level contract. He was a second-round selection in the 2020 NHL Draft for Buffalo, taken with the 34th overall pick.
The 19-year-old forward has been playing in the Deutsche Eishockey League (DEL) in Germany since 2019 as a member of EHC Red Bull Munchen. Over the past two years, he has played in 72 games in the DEL. Peterka has 31 points on 16 goals and 15 assists in that span.
Peterka’s most recent activity was playing for Germany in the 2021 IIHF World Championship in Latvia. He played in six games for Team Germany and recorded one goal. Peterka and Team Germany ended the tournament losing in the bronze-medal game to Team USA.
JJ also participated in two IIHF World Junior Championship tournaments for Team Germany. In 2020, he had six points on four goals and two assists in seven games. And he had an even more impressive 2021 World Junior Championship with four goals and six assists in five games.
The Sabres believe that Peterka will be a crucial piece to their rebuild as they advance. At only 19-years-old, he is adding youth to an already young roster and still has plenty of time to develop into a player Buffalo needs.
Now that he has signed an entry-level deal, he joins Jack Quinn as another member of the Sabres’ 2020 draft class to sign with the team. Quinn signed an entry-level contract with Buffalo last November and played in Rochester this past season for the Americans. It will be interesting to see where both Peterka and Quinn start next season, but I think it is safe to say that they will both be in Buffalo sooner rather than later.