Matthew Savoie had his bag packed a long time ago, so he’d be ready if the phone rang.
Well, it rang.
The Edmonton Oilers are giving the kid from St. Albert his shot.
The club flew the 21-year-old up from Bakersfield to skate with them at practice this week and the plan is to get him into the lineup on their upcoming eastern road trip.
“As the season’s gone on he’s progressing and playing really well and we wanted to look and see how he fits into our lineup,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “Whether there’s a fit with somebody or maybe he’s just not quite ready, whatever it is.
“I think he’s earned it, I think he’s been playing very well in Bakersfield. We’ll just see if he plays well and we’ll make a decision after that.”
Savoie has been playing extremely well in Bakersfield, arguably their best forward on most nights. In his first full season as a pro he has 37 points (13 goals and 24 assists) in 45 games and he’s just back from the AHL All-Star game where he won the fastest skater competition in a time that would have cracked top five in the NHL.
There is something there and the Oilers want to take a closer look.
“At some point during the road trip he will play, but how many games and what games, that will be determined,” said Knoblauch. “It’s been earned. If he wasn’t one of the better players every single night we wouldn’t be calling him up here.”
Savoie came to Edmonton from Buffalo last summer in the trade for Ryan McLeod, so Oilers management is hoping a deal that they are losing early will turn the other way if the ninth overall pick in 2022 reaches his NHL potential.
Time will tell, but the early returns will be arriving shortly.
“The reports we’ve had for quite a while are that he’s been playing well and getting better every time in many areas of the game,” said Knoblauch. “We’re looking forward to seeing him play.”
It’s funny how something you’ve waited your whole life for can happen in such a hurry. In the last two and half years he’s played for five teams (Winnipeg, Wenatchee, and Moose Jaw in the WHL and Rochester and Bakersfield in the AHL) so being on the move is nothing new.
But this stop is something special.
“You always have to make sure you have a bag packed at home,” Savoie said after skating on a line with Leon Draisaitl in practice. “That’s what keeps it exciting. Every player wants to play here so that’s the call you’re waiting to get and hoping you get.
“So pure joy for me and pure excitement.”
Savoie isn’t big (five-foot-nine, 179 pounds at the start of training camp), but he knows his way around the ice and he can skate at an NHL level. That’s a good start.
“He looked great, I thought,” said Draisaitl. “He moves really well, you can tell he’s got a lot of hockey sense, so hopefully we’ll get a couple games together and see what we have in him.
“He’s been playing really well down there from what I’ve heard. Excited to see him.”
It’s a testament to his progress that he’s getting a look this early in his pro career. As Knoblauch said, this isn’t a gift, it’s been earned.
“I’m just trying to make that big jump to the pro level, pick out the differences from junior, and try to really work on those areas,” he said. “I think it’s been a pretty seamless transition and I’m just looking to continue getting better every day.
“It’s really exciting to see where I could potentially play and where I could be. It makes me want to continue to push myself as hard as I can to get to that next level and be a contributor here.”
Skating with Draisaitl isn’t something a lot of 21-year-old rookies get to do, so the significance of that isn’t lost on Savoie.
“It was really fun. I got a little bit of a taste of it in camp, an idea of what it’s like to play with a player of that skill level. Every time you’re out there it’s a step up. The plays he makes, the way he makes them, it’s just so effortless. He knows where to put the puck. It’s really fun to play with a guy like that who can distribute and finish the way he does.”
It also helps that he’s getting clear directions on what the Oilers are looking for; Savoie and Knoblauch had a nice discussion already on what the blueprint should look like.
“It was more seeing how the year has been going, how I’m feeling coming in, answering any questions that I have,” said Savoie. “He’s really good about being open and direct and wants to make sure you have a clear, direct plan when you’re out there. It was a good conversation and just makes me feel more comfortable here.”
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