Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Matthew Savoie’s push to the National Hockey League had long been in the making.
Acquired by Edmonton last July 5, Savoie made his Oilers debut on Saturday afternoon at Philadelphia, skating on a line with Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin and picking up an assist.
Edmonton continues a five-game East Coast swing in Washington on Sunday. And with a compressed schedule down the stretch following the NHL’s two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, the Oilers could benefit from the 21-year-old’s contributions.
Savoie, who was selected ninth overall by Buffalo in the 2022 NHL Draft, is a native of St. Albert, Alta., a city that neighbors Edmonton to the northwest. He played his junior hockey in the Western Hockey League and made his pro debut with the Rochester Americans during the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs. Last year he played six games in Rochester and one with the Sabres before finishing his junior career with a WHL championship at Moose Jaw.
Beginning his first full pro season this fall, Savoie was assigned to the Bakersfield Condors for further development. And he may well have passed that test, ranking third among AHL rookies with 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists) and third with a plus-16 rating in 45 games.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch knows the value of AHL experience for a top prospect like Savoie; Knoblauch spent parts of five seasons with the Hartford Wolf Pack before coming to Edmonton in November 2023.
“We want to give him a little runway, seeing where he fits in, and seeing [if] he’s ready to help our team,” Knoblauch told reporters on Friday. “I have absolute belief that he is a player that can play in the NHL. Is he a player that is going to move the needle and make our team better? What he’s done in the American League and what we’ve seen here, we’re very excited to see what he gives us in the games.”
After representing the Condors at the AHL All-Star Classic earlier this month,
Savoie had six points in his last five games for the Condors prior to his recall. Before that, he participated in the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic, winning the fastest skater event at the Skills Competition with a lap of 13.654 seconds. Speed is the element that sets him up for success. He produces offensively, of course, but every would-be NHL player must be also defensively responsible in today’s game, and speed has helped to allow Savoie to develop that part of his game, giving him a chance to build separation from opponents and also close in on them when he is without the puck.
“I think a lot of it is just fast-twitch muscles,” Savoie said of his speed. “I worked with some pretty good skating coaches growing up. I just feel like I have a good, strong lower body.”
A long 2023-24 season saw Savoie play for four teams, in addition to representing Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship. The offseason hardly slowed down, with the trade to Edmonton, NHL training camp and the move to Bakersfield.
“It was definitely a transition to start at the pro level,” Savoie said. “It took a little bit of adjusting, but I feel like I’ve been playing well in the past two months. Every game in the Pacific (Division) is really tight. You really have to be dialed night in and night out, and not take any nights off.”
Whether he is with the Oilers or Condors (or both) going into the stretch drive, Savoie is going to be playing high-pressure hockey as his rookie season continues to unfold. Edmonton is battling for first place, while Bakersfield is currently tied for the final playoff spot in their division. And he has that experience of being with the Amerks during the 2023 postseason to draw from.
“Going into [2023-24], I had more of a [comfort level] in camp being around the guys for a little bit of the playoffs,” Savoie said. “It was great. They took me right in. I got to jump into a game and feel the atmosphere of the AHL playoffs, which was good. It was good just to dip my feet in and feel what the intensity was like, what the physicality was like, and I think I’m just taking that experience.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.