One Edmonton Oilers top prospect is making his case to get some NHL time at some point this season.
Lots of hype surrounded the Oilers’ summer trade of Ryan McLeod to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for former first-rounder Matthew Savoie. The St. Albert native immediately became the team’s top prospect, and some even thought he had an outside chance of cracking the NHL roster in training camp.
An underwhelming camp and a slow start to the season with the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors helped quiet the noise around Savoie, but he’s started to find a groove in his first full season as a professional hockey player.
Throughout his last nine games, Savoie has scored four goals and 11 points. His most recent game against the San Diego Gulls on Saturday night saw him record three assists.
Matthew Savoie had a slow start to his AHL season, but he’s been great lately.
3 assists on Saturday and a total of 11 points over his last nine games.
It’ll be interesting to see if he can earn a call-up in the second half of the NHL season.
#Oilers— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) December 29, 2024
There was some concern that Savoie was lagging behind his peers during his first season pro, but that does not appear to be the case. He is now tied for 10th in AHL rookie scoring with 21 and is just five points back of the lead.
It was not a shocker to see Savoie sent down to the AHL to start the season, and it was likely that the Oilers wanted to see how he performed down in the minors for at least the first half of the season. He was passed over as a call-up on several occasions, with players like Drake Caggiula and Noah Philp being called up instead.
However, if he can keep up this pace going into the new year, he could get some NHL games down the stretch — a similar path to how ex-Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto broke into the big leagues.
It’ll take a lot of work and a bit of luck for Savoie to snag a spot on the Oilers roster, but it isn’t impossible.