Armstrong Discusses Peterka Trade

Utah Mammoth General Manager Bill Armstrong discussed the trade for forward J.J. Peterka. Here’s the biggest takeaways.

On J.J. Peterka Joining Utah

“I think he’s got to come in and get acclimated to Utah and learn the systems. But if you look at his points last year is roughly around what Cooley was last year. So, he’s got an opportunity to come in and have an impact on our top two lines and I think it’s something that he can grow into. He’ll take baby steps in getting here and learning to play our system and getting used to Utah and everything about it and his new teammates. But he’s a kid, he wants to win, he’s a competitor.”

On Who Peterka is as a Player

“He’s a competitor. The one thing that I’ve learned about him from watching him over the years is that he’s got a unique ability to create a ton of speed down the wings. He can beat goaltenders from distance. That’s one of the things that we like about what he can do. There’s a lot of other aspects we like about his game. He’s 23, he’s young, he’s fast, he’s hungry to make a difference. But he’s going to have an opportunity to come in and prove himself here and have a good impact on our club along with a lot of other players. But I think it helps us solidify our top-six.”

On How the Trade Happened

“You roughly heard a little noise around the combine time about three weeks ago. Obviously as a GM you stay (tuned in) to what’s going on in the league and you make some calls, and I didn’t think anything was going to happen but sure enough it did. It was one of those things where it’s a win-win for both clubs. Buffalo got two real good players, and we got J.J. who’s going to add into our scoring touch on our top two lines, so I think it’s a win for both clubs. But it took some time to mature and get across the finish line, but we were able to do it.”

On Trading Kesselring and Doan

“That’s the hard part as a GM … sometimes you have to trade players that you truly love, and we had that last year with (J.J.) Moser and (Connor) Geekie to get (Mikhail) Sergachev through the door. Those are the toughest calls you have to make. At the end of the day those two kids that were in the fight with us and were kind of homegrown and you have to move them along and try to better your team, and give your team a chance to get to that next level. We needed some scoring, and we felt like that could be answered with J.J. (Peterka) who’s not only a goal scorer but he’s somebody that (is) the same age range as most of the players on our team, and that was an important aspect for us.”

On Plans for the NHL Draft Following the Trade

“For us we’re going to swing at the draft, we’re going to look at every option we have, whether that’s moving the (fourth-overall) pick, keeping the pick, trading up, trading down, trading around. We’re going to look at every option, every option that’s going to help us improve our club and we’ve always been that way, and we’ll continue to be that way. These are busy times for us because we want to be in it, and we want a chance to swing here. So, it’s an important pick for us because of where we are. They keep the money makers in the top-five and here we go.”