Buffalo, NY—

When Daniel Merica Jr. made the decision to force his way out of the utter shitshow in Winnipeg, there weren’t a whole lot of teams interested in the polarizing forward, which comes with the territory of being a Merica.

In fact, there were a total of two teams that made serious inquiries, one of them being the Buffalo Stampede, who took advantage of the situation and essentially stole Merica Jr. for a S65 second round pick. ”In any other situation, he would of commanded a greater value, but with the fractured aspect of his relationship with Winnipeg, Buffalo knew they had all the leverage, Daniel actually did Winnipeg a favor by not making his displeasure known publicly, which he came very close to doing.” Said one SHL insider who was privy to the situation.

After his best season in the juniors, where Daniel reinvented his game and became a two-way hitting machine, finishing third in the SMJHL with a staggering 185 hits, complimented with 48 points, he is primed to enter the SHL and make an immediate impact, and Buffalo took notice.

Buffalo announced today they have reached a long term extension with Daniel, locking him into Buffalo for next 3 years, with 9 million guaranteed and a No-Movement Clause. ”When I realized I couldn’t play in Winnipeg anymore, there was a short list of teams that I wanted to play with, and an even shorter list of teams that reciprocated that desire. Thankfully Buffalo, who was without question my top destination thanks to my ties to Chimkin Wing, WBF and the allure of their winning culture, we were able to work something out, and I couldn’t be happier about how things played out. “

Buffalo has been a perennial contender for a number of years, and the addition of Merica Jr. will only help continue this trend. ”I’ve been around the SHL for a very long time, since the beginning, so I’ve seen every type of general manager and team set up imaginable. In all that time, few teams have been as poorly managed as Winnipeg. On the flip side, Buffalo is one of the best teams I’ve been apart of, the culture is fantastic, they have a clear direction and gameplan, you can tell the GMs here know what the fuck their doing, so I am beyond excited to be apart of this team going forward.”

He also had some parting words for the St. Louis faithful. ”Id be remised if I didn’t say a few words on St. Louis. Particularly the GM, @TheSparkyDee , who I consider a friend. Any guy or gal entering the smjhl should want to play there, Sparky is the kind of guy who will always have your back, keep you motivated and someone you will want to work hard for. To all my teammates there, it’s been a pleasure playing with you and I wish you the best moving forward.”

Daniel’s role on Buffalo next season isn’t known at this time, but as a rookie I expect it to be fairly limited in nature, which is to be expected on a team that is always fighting for a Cup and has that depth. Either way, he will be an intriguing rookie to watch.