With the recent trade of Ryan McLeod and Tyler Tullio to the Buffalo Sabres, the Edmonton Oilers acquired Matthew Savoie. Well who exactly is Savoie and what does he bring to the Oilers?
Here is all you need to know about the newest Oilers prospect.
Who is Matthew Savoie?
| Position | Handedness | Height | Weight | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centre | Right | 5’10 | 179LB | 20:07 |
Savoie’s on-ice production
The St. Albert product is a WHL Alumni.
Savoie was selected by the now relocated Kootney Ice, first overall in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft. From there he joined the team when they relocated to Winnipeg in the 2019–20 season and then once again when they relocated to Wenatchee at the start of 2023–24.
| Year | League | Team | GP | G | A | P | Playoff GP | Playoff G | Playoff A | Playoff P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | WHL | Winnipeg Ice | 65 | 35 | 55 | 90 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 2022–23 | WHL | Winnipeg Ice | 62 | 38 | 57 | 95 | 19 | 11 | 18 | 29 |
| 2023–24 | WHL | Wenatchee Wild | 11 | 11 | 13 | 24 | ||||
| 2023–24 | WHL | Moose Jaw Warriors | 23 | 19 | 28 | 47 | 19 | 10 | 14 | 24 |
| 2023–24 | AHL | Rockchester Americans | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
At at least a point per game since the 2021–22 season, Savoie has been named an WHL First team all-star, and second team all star (2022–23). For his effectiveness to continue expect this point production to also continue as the player ages and gets adjusted to the next level of hockey.
Savoie’s player profile
Savoie is a smaller statured shifty playmaking centre with plenty of speed, good instincts, silky smooth puck skills, and a mean streak of physicality and compete.
Think of Savoie as a hockey Lightning McQueen.
Savoie’s strengths
Speed
Savoie is a dynamic skater. This is a requirement for smaller players in today’s NHL, and one that Savoie excels at.
One area this really shines is in transitional play as you see his crisp skating posture halfway between standing up and hunched over, all while maintaining good ankle flection combined with top end upper body strength serve as the basis of his skating power.
Next thing immediately noticeable is his stride, which is smooth and provides a good basis for rapid acceleration and boy does he have top end speed. In offensive transition his lateral acceleration combined with integrated crossovers allow quick zone entries and winnable races against any defenceman in the WHL.
After Savoie reaches top speed his gliding alone is faster than some other WHLer’s skating. When he is trying? Savoie is an absolute burner and good at space creation, gap identification, and does everything in his power to establish good inside body leverage for when he does beat opponents.
Savoie is the epitome of give an inch and take a mile, as upon zone entries he can carve the O-zone up at will with creative lanes/routes, agility, and top notch edge work. More often than not he will jump straight towards the net. The forward definitely has a nose for the net.
Now combine this skating with an puck possession motor and you get the makings of an intense offensive threat, and increased rush chances for, which is what Savoie partly specializes in.
Instincts
Savoie is a menace with and without the puck, (in the best possible way), with high offensive hockey IQ.
He is constantly scanning the ice and processes the game at a high level, which when combined with his aforementioned creativity he becomes an outlet. More specifically a breakout outlet, as he serves as a huge transitional asset, who has elite vision and option identification in an effective manner.
His play anticipation is superb, and this allows him to be especially deadly on the power play. It is no secret, Savoie is one of the most effective man advantage players as he can see through layers, has high end offenisive instincts, and hand-eye coordination for zone based chance creation.
Now that might explain his 3:33 of PP time per game.
Serving largely as a bumper-outside half wall player Savoie can tee teammates up with a lightning fast pass or a spin-orama shot.
His instincts don’t end in the offensive zone though, as since his draft year he has made significant improvement on playing a more complete game.
He has taken a more active role on the forecheck for starters.
One of this elements is his hustle on defensive transition furthermore his spacial awareness is more evident through his efforts to block lanes on the backcheck. Secondly is his defensive awareness which taken another step as well demonstrated by his routine stick lifts and poke checks in his latest season.
This is further explained by his 1:14 of PK time per game.
There is also a bit of a bite to Savoie’s game now too as he has matured physically he has introduced more physical elements of hitting and no avoidance of board play in his game. Although the underlying numbers of 0.34 hits per game aren’t particularly moving it does have a positive role in his game.
Furthermore his aforementioned motor combines with his physicality to lead Savoie into winning 51% of puck battles which is impressive all things considered.
Puck Skills
One might think he is a magnet, because the puck just zips to and from his stick, which also might help explain why he starts 41% of all shifts in the O-zone.
His puck skills have a large factor of quality poise and deception to them too as he passes to players behind, around, and infront of him without even changing his eye direction in both transitional and zone play. Talk about robotic.
Savoie also has an arsenal of pass options too: behind the back, seam passes, stretch pass, bank passes, short passes. Often times his teammates are the ones that might not pick up on the passes, which is not exactly Savoie’s entire fault.
Savoie has always been more of a playmaker, but he has made significant steps in shooting too, as his arsenal of shots rival that of his passes, and have significant grown-player strength behind them now too.
His shot is defined by a good mechanical release where Savoie is able to use hand leverage to establish a favourable release point. Even more impressive is his ability to get in a good shooting posture with a complete weight transfer in just a couple of mili seconds.
Much like his passes his shots have deception too as goalies are never quite sure when they are coming.
With the lethality of Savoie’s shot it makes sense why taking six shots per game, equates to 30 goals in a season.
Savoie’s areas of improvement
A large portion of Savoie’s limitations revolve around size and consistency.
Consistency
One of the few things that decrease the forward’s effectiveness is his balance, best exemplified through his hit absorption, because when the 5’10” centre get hits, he appears to get run over. Further increases in balance and lower body strength can help limit the overall explosiveness of this.
With his lower centre of gravity he should have a distinct advantage in the face off dot, but sitting at a 52% faceoff percentage doesn’t particularly prove that. This is a factor that should come with more experience and time as he adjusts to the pro ranks expect this percentage to marginally go up.
Savoie take A LOT of shots, and shot selection is something he will have to judge better as he graduates to the pro-ranks, as it remains highly unlikely he gets six opportunities for a shot per game at the NHL level.
Savoie’s next steps
Either way Savoie has to adjust to professional hockey. It is likely he finds himself in Oilers training camp as a top-nine addition to their NHL squad or at worst a top line forward in Bakersfield.
Expect to see Savoie’s name in the Blue and Gold this year, the only question that remains is if its for the whole season or just part of it.
Projection with the Oilers
NHL ETA: Less than one year
Prospect Projection: top six scoring forward and PP specialist at the NHL level.
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