On Friday (July 5), the Edmonton Oilers acquired forward Matthew Savoie from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for forwards Ryan McLeod and Tyler Tullio.
A native of St. Albert, just outside of Edmonton, Savoie recently helped the Moose Jaw Warriors capture the Western Hockey League (WHL) championship and advance to the 2024 Memorial Cup.
Related: Oilers Trading Ryan McLeod to Sabres For Prospect Matt Savoie
The 20-year-old Matthew is the younger brother of forward Carter Savoie, whom Edmonton drafted with the No. 100 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. After spending all of the last two seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Bakersfield Condors, Carter became an unrestricted free agent when the Oilers did not tender a qualifying offer to the winger.
McLeod was drafted 40th overall by Edmonton in 2018 and made his NHL debut in 2021. Over parts of four seasons with the Oilers, he scored 32 goals and added 43 assists in 219 games. McLeod had seven goals and six assists in 56 postseason games for the Oilers.
Tullio, the 126th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, has spent the last two seasons with the Condors, totaling 47 points in 117 AHL regular season games.
There will be fans in Edmonton who are sad to see McLeod go, and certainly those who looked forward to seeing if Tullio could progress to the NHL level. But with Savoie, the Oilers have acquired a 20-year-old with tremendous promise. Here’s everything to know about the centre’s hockey journey that has led to his hometown NHL team.
Savoie Was Compared to Crosby and MacKinnon
At age 14, while playing with the Northern Alberta X-Treme, Savoie drew comparisons to NHL superstars Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.
“Because of the way he skates, I hate using Sidney Crosby. But he kind of plays the same type of style where he’s so competitive, fights for pucks, and is hard on his stick,” Brent Parker, the head western Canadian scout for ISS Hockey, said at the time.
“I remember watching Nathan MacKinnon in bantam with Shattuck St. Mary’s, and there’s a little bit of that. I don’t think he’s quite as explosive a skater as MacKinnon, but he’s an awful good skater.”
Savoie appeared in 31 games for the X-Treme in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League in 2017-18, potting 31 goals and dishing 40 assists.
He Was Denied Exceptional Player Status
In the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft, Savoie was selected first overall by the Kootenay Ice, who were moving to Winnipeg for the 2019-20 season.
Savoie was denied his request for exceptional player status, which would have allowed him to play in the WHL at age 15, but he did receive permission to play half a season as a 15-year-old for Winnipeg. He appeared in 22 games with the Ice in 2019-20, totaling seven assists.
At the time, the WHL had never granted exceptional player status but has since done so twice: to Connor Bedard in 2020 and Landon DuPoint in 2024.
Savoie Was Drafted Ninth Overall by Buffalo
After racking up 95 points in 62 games with Winnipeg in the 2021-22 WHL regular season, Savoie was selected ninth overall by the Sabres at the 2022 NHL Draft.
Buffalo earned high marks for the selection. Savoie was fourth among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings for the 2022 NHL Draft.
Analysts raved about Savoie in their prospect profiles. For example, Matthew Somma of Smaht Scouting wrote: “Savoie is like a gnat in the offensive zone. He’s always buzzing around, and no matter how many times you swat at him, he won’t go away. You can’t stop Savoie from making plays in the offensive zone; you can only hope to contain him. He’ll pester you on the forecheck, create turnovers, attack the puck, and constantly keep his feet moving.
“Part of what makes Savoie so much fun to watch is that it seems as if he’s never content with standing around. He has to move around and keep changing the angles and lanes for the defense, slowly wearing them down until they make a mistake, and he can strike.”
Savoie Already Has Pro Experience
Savoie made his pro hockey debut in the 2023 Calder Cup playoffs, suiting up for two games with the Rochester Americans, Buffalo’s AHL affiliate.
He returned to Rochester on a conditioning loan early in the 2023-24 AHL season and scored five points in six games with the Americans. Savoie then made his NHL regular season debut with the Sabres, playing 3:55 in a 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 10 before being sent back to the WHL.
“It wasn’t a terrible thing for me to get sent back down to junior for one more year and really fine-tune some things in my game that need working on, that need to get a little bit better for the pro level,” Savoie said. “I think it’s a good developmental level to work on those things.”
Savoie Played for Five Teams in 2023-24
Savoie began his 2023-24 WHL season with the Wenatchee Wild, the former Ice who had moved from Winnipeg and taken on a new nickname. Over the holiday season, he represented his country at the 2024 World Juniors in Gothenburg, Sweden, picking up one assist in four games for Team Canada.
On Jan. 4, Wenatchee dealt Savoie to the Warriors in exchange for seven future picks in the WHL Prospects Draft. In just 23 regular-season games with Moose Jaw, Savoie scored 19 goals and dished 28 assists. He notched 10 goals and 14 assists in 19 playoff games as the Warriors captured the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time in club history.
Add the Americans and Sabres, and Savoie played for five different teams at four levels in just a few months. Savoie won’t play for nearly as many teams next season. Look for the promising prospect to start 2024-25 in Bakersfield, and don’t be surprised if he has a stint with the Oilers at some point.
