Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – There was joy on JJ Peterka’s face again, as he spoke on Tuesday about making the Buffalo Sabres' roster.
After general manager Kevyn Adams gave him the news on Monday, the 20-year-old immediately Facetimed with his parents back in Germany.
“I was super, super happy," said Peterka with a smile on his face. "That was the thing I was working for the whole summer, and to have made the team is an unbelievable feeling for me.”
Peterka had his ear-to-ear grin back when he was speaking on Tuesday. It’s something he had lost during some of the preseason games, because things weren’t going well for him. Things also didn’t go well for Peterka during training camp.
“When I am not playing good, I think too much. A good player is not thinking, he’s playing at his best. So with so much new stuff, I had to think it,” Peterka said.
Peterka played with Peyton Krebs in the American Hockey League with the Rochester Americans, but this is the first time he’s gotten to play with Dylan Cozens. He’s enjoying playing with the "old guy", who is just 21-years-old.
“You can see it that he’s played two years in the league already, and even though he’s still young, he’s such a great leader in the locker room," Peterka said. "He’s helping me a lot with trying to figure things out.”
Sabres head coach Don Granato had said the coaching staff has thrown a lot at Peterka, and the kid was trying to process it all as he learns the North American game. He says Peterka and Jack Quinn are going to grow.
“We know their potential, and we know they’re a talent, because they compete and are dedicated to improvement. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be here, because they need to improve, they need to acclimate to size, strength and speed," said Granato on Tuesday. "They’re behind right now, and it’s going to take them a bit, but we know their talent base, and they will acclimate. We just need to get them in there.
“It’s almost like you can’t learn to swim without getting wet. So they need to jump into the pool and swim.”
Granato is sure they’re going to be fine, because he thinks they’ve surrounded them with great support.
In last year’s Calder Cup Playoffs, Quinn was blanketed and intimidated by the other teams. He didn’t score a playoff goal, but that doesn’t mean the experience wasn’t a good one for him.
“It was a great experience to play tough hockey with tough matchups, and I didn’t think my game was in a great spot," said Quinn on Tuesday.
The Sabres' second power play unit that includes Cozens, Krebs, Kyle Okposo and Victor Olofsson now has rookie defenseman Owen Power as its quarterback on the point.
Last year, it was either Henri Jokiharju or Jacob Bryson, and in the last month of the season, they were part of the best power play group in the NHL.
Power has only played eight NHL games, but Granato is confident it’ll work.
“It’s more than just comfort with Owen, it's comfort with the other four guys and how they’ll handle Owen," Granato said. "I know they’re not going to be jumping down Owen’s throat when a mistake is made. They’ll support him, and that’s significant. They’ll mentor and bring Owen along when needed.”
Peterka and Quinn were great power play producers with the Amerks last season, but Granato doesn’t want to put that on them quite yet. He also had two very good units last year in Buffalo.
Jokiharju is in his third training camp with the Sabres. He has had very slow starts the past two seasons, then all-of-a-sudden starts getting better and better. It’s already started this season in the preseason games, and Granato says the trick is to make sure it takes less time to get Jokiharju to his game.
“We have to support him through it," he said. "Jokiharju is extremely hard on himself, he’s his own worst enemy, and that clutters his ability to just play free and read and react.
“Some players when they feel like they’re not in full season game shape or they start pressing and over thinking, that can happen to ‘Joki’. You’ve just got to support him through that, knowing he’s going to get through it.”
They certainly hope it doesn’t take Jokiharju until December to get going.
“He’s getting through those things faster now, as he gets comfortable with his teammates, those are shortened," Granato said.
"Everybody has their unfortunate moments, but with him, they were prolonged, but he’s learning to shorten them.”
The Sabres will have one more practice before the season opener Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators.
