Utah
JJ Peterka is excited to play in Utah
JJ Peterka was on a golf trip in Spain with Utah Mammoth prospect Julian Lutz when he found out he’d been traded to Utah.
“We were pretty happy,” Peterka, who hails from Germany, told reporters of the exchange on Friday morning via a Zoom call.
Lutz and Maksymilian Szuber, another German prospect in Utah’s system, are the only Mammoth players Peterka is familiar with. The 23-year-old has spent his entire NHL career in Buffalo, and he’s only played one game at the Delta Center — but the new challenge excites him.
“Playing there once, just the atmosphere was great,” he said. “The fans felt, like, so tight and close to the ice. It’s going to be really exciting.”
“I think he was excited to know that he was going to our team,” said general manager Bill Armstrong the day after the trade. “I think he had done some studying on our club and he was excited about coming here.”
Back-to-back seasons in the 30-goal range with an 18-point increase year over year earned Peterka a five-year contract worth $7.7 million annually immediately upon being traded. He’s drawn significant criticism for his lack of defensive presence, but a deal like that indicates that the organization has faith that it can shape him into a two-way player.
How will Peterka fit in with the Utah Mammoth?
Peterka is best described as a dynamic threat with speed and an elite shot. He’s a new-school NHLer through and through. But he doesn’t feel that he’s hit his peak yet.
“I think there’s still a lot left, and that’s why I have to work hard every day,” he said.
Armstrong agreed.
“If you look at his points last year, he’s roughly around what (Logan) Cooley was last year, so he’s got an opportunity to come in and have an impact on our top two lines,” he said. “I think it’s something that he can grow into. It’s something that he’ll take baby steps in getting here and learning to play our system.”
Off the ice, Peterka described himself as a “super happy person” and a “funny guy” — which is exactly what the team lost when it sent Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan the other way in the trade.
He grew up in Munich — just north of the Alps, the biggest mountain range in Europe. Moving to Utah excites him because it will “feel like home.”
Another thing about Utah that appeals to Peterka is the commitment the organization has shown to building a top-tier team, both on and off the ice. On the ice, he was impressed by the atmosphere at the Delta Center when he played there in March. Off it, he’s excited for the new practice facility in Sandy, which is set to open Sept. 1.
He also mentioned the fit in terms of roster construction. Of the 15 U24 players who scored 60 points or more last season, three of them now play for Utah. And with five first-round picks looking to crack the roster in the next few years, they’re only poised to get better.
Where in the rebuild are the Utah Mammoth now?
Utah missed the playoffs by seven points last season. That’s equivalent to three and a half wins. With the amount of one-goal and overtime losses it suffered, the team was realistically one good scorer away from the postseason.
If Peterka can be that guy, while Cooley and Dylan Guenther take additional steps forward, there’s no reason the team shouldn’t make it next year.
That said, Armstrong is not letting himself get sucked into the belief that Utah is only a piece or two away from the Stanley Cup. That’s why he didn’t pursue any of the big names in free agency, despite the constant reports from national outlets to the contrary.
“A lot of times, you see teams on the front of The Hockey News: They win the summer, but they don’t win in the winter,” he said. “We don’t want to be that team. We want to be built properly for the long run.”
Gathering a core of similar-aged, elite, young players is the name of the game. Peterka fits that perfectly. When those guys (along with a few prospects who project to be NHL-ready in the next few years) achieve their full potential, that’s when Armstrong will take big swings in free agency.
Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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