Matthew Savoie has a clear path to Oilers roster spot next season
After all that has transpired around the Edmonton Oilers over the past week, prospect Matthew Savoie may now have a path to NHL action next season.
The 20-year-old came to the Oilers earlier in the summer in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres, and while it was assumed that Edmonton may want to keep him in the AHL for another season, an opportunity has opened up for the St. Albert native.
Drafted ninth overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, Savoie is a highly skilled offensive player who scored at over a two-point-per-game level in the WHL last season. He’s the type of player a team would have to play in a premier spot in the NHL and, before recent events, it didn’t look like that was going to be possible next season for Savoie.
However, now that the team has lost Dylan Holloway to the St. Louis Blues, another roster spot has opened up within the team’s top six.
#Oilers are now suddenly looking for an extra bit of speed in their forward group with Holloway and McLeod gone.
Seems like the perfect opportunity for a player like Matt Savoie to prove he's ready to make the jump…
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) August 21, 2024
There have been whispers that the Oilers would much rather prefer to use Savoie in his natural position as a centre, but with the middle of the ice loaded up with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Adam Henrique, that seems more like wishful thinking than reality at this point. Unless, of course, an injury hit one of those players.
What is much more likely is Edmonton moving Savoie to the wing, potentially to play on the left side with Draisaitl on the team’s second line. The St. Alberta does shoot right, so logically he should move to the right wing, but Savoie has experience doing it and Zach Hyman has had no issue with that transition.
This would see Savoie replacing the same position that Holloway played in during the playoffs. Holloway had quite a bit of success in this role as he used his speed to create chaos and find room and Savoie’s offensive prowess could have similar results.
Doing this would also allow the Oilers to slide Ryan Nugent-Hopkins down to the third line, giving the team much more depth down the lineup and potentially achieving that white whale of three scoring lines.
Savoie, however, should not simply be handed a job right out of training camp regardless of how he performs. The opportunity opening up is just one side of the coin, he will now have to force Edmonton’s hand in giving him a look to start the season and then continue to prove why he belongs.
It’ll be one of a few interesting roster battles that Oilers fans can expect to see over the next month and a half.