Prospect Info: C/RW Matthew Savoie, 9th Overall, 2022 NHL Draft - Traded to Moose Jaw 1/4/24

[Dingo44]

I was starting to wonder if I was still in the Savoie thread...

 

[TageGod]

I was starting to wonder if I was still in the Savoie thread...

Too many people drinking the Kul-aid.

 

[BuffaloGooner]

If Shane Wright is AHL eligible this year, I see no reason why Savoie shouldn’t also be AHL eligible. He’s being punished for playing in the USHL during the Covid season and I don’t think it’s fair that the CHL will allow Wright to leave and not Savoie.

 

[Fjordy]

If Shane Wright is AHL eligible this year, I see no reason why Savoie shouldn’t also be AHL eligible. He’s being punished for playing in the USHL during the Covid season and I don’t think it’s fair that the CHL will allow Wright to leave and not Savoie.

I don’t understand these rules at all that a player cannot play from CHL and cannot play in the AHL until a certain age.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

It's designed to protect the profits for the CHL teams. Keeping most of their players until 20yo is their viable business model as unlike European teams they don't have junior then senior level affiliation

 

[Yultron]

Can’t wait until training camp and we will see Savoie cook and play really well , I’m now at 50/50 odds he makes the team :

Going back to junior and getting 120 points would be phenomenal but what he needs is to play against men not 16 and 17 year olds so the battle between him and Kulich will be fun to watch

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

Every team in the league has at least one, and usually 2-3 rookies in the line-up at times. That doesn't make it a "developmental" season ONLY for those teams, and it won't for the Sabres either. This term has just been thrown out of context since KA/Granato used it last year. I mean, every player younger than around 26-27 has room to grow and get better, and most teams in the league are trying to "develop" into a better team. Developing and winning aren't mutually exclusive...except in the biased rants of some.

Developing and winning aren’t mutually exclusive.

Is that like icing the youngest roster in the league but still finishing with the most wins the franchise has had in 12yr?

And of the youngest 16 rosters in the league 5 made the playoffs, including Edmonton and NYR.

40 rookies played more than half their teams games. Sabres had 3 of them.

6 teams had 3 rookies play in half their games. Edm was the only team that made the playoffs.

In fact 19 of the 40 rookies played for those 6 teams.

The remaining 26 teams used 21 rookies as primary contributors.

Teams who didn't have a rookie start 41 games or more? Bos, Car, Cgy, Chi, Col, LAK, Tor. 5 of the 7 made the playoffs, the other 2 were tanking.

But saying that starting rookies isn't what makes a 'development' season a 'development' season is correct. A development season is a season that prioritizes getting young players ice time even if they aren't yet able to win games with that ice time. However, Granato also stripped ice time from Quinn and Peterka in the third period of close games. Which is why Quinn and Peterka end up together for their most common line combos and Dylan Cozens ends up with Thompson and Mittlestadt. So you could also say that they tried to win games while developing young players.

Just to make sure I get Savoie into this post somewhere; this is exactly why there shouldn't be any rush to get him to Buffalo.

 

[alehman42]

I don’t understand these rules at all that a player cannot play from CHL and cannot play in the AHL until a certain age.

The rules were negotiated in good faith between the NHL, AHL, and CHL long before Covid, and worked well with minimal issues for years. CHL players in an under-20 year cannot play in the AHL; this protects both the CHL leagues and the older players making a living in the AHL.

Then Covid-19 showed up and f*cked with, well...everything, everywhere, all at once.

Wright sat out the Covid year while on a CHL roster, so that counts as a year "served" in the CHL. Savoie went and played in the USHL during the Covid year, so the CHL treats that (justifiably) as a year outside the CHL. Are the results ideal or fair? Not really. Are they in compliance with agreements made in good faith? Yep.

When a once-in-a-century pandemic hits, it should not be surprising that it turns some things sideways.

PS: Matt Savoie is going to make millions in the NHL, regardless of where he plays this year.

 

[Fjordy]

The rules were negotiated in good faith between the NHL, AHL, and CHL long before Covid, and worked well with minimal issues for years. CHL players in an under-20 year cannot play in the AHL; this protects both the CHL leagues and the older players making a living in the AHL.

Then Covid-19 showed up and f*cked with, well...everything, everywhere, all at once.

Wright sat out the Covid year while on a CHL roster, so that counts as a year "served" in the CHL. Savoie went and played in the USHL during the Covid year, so the CHL treats that (justifiably) as a year outside the CHL. Are the results ideal or fair? Not really. Are they in compliance with agreements made in good faith? Yep.

When a once-in-a-century pandemic hits, it should not be surprising that it turns some things sideways.

PS: Matt Savoie is going to make millions in the NHL, regardless of where he plays this year.

I just don't really like the idea of a guy like Savoie possibly continuing to play with kids next season when he could have gotten experience in the AHL, especially considering how well Appert is working with young players right now.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

He'll be taking Krebs spot as the 4C this year while getting PK and PP .inutes

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

He'll be taking Krebs spot as the 4C this year while getting PK and PP .inutes

That would be an interesting development, and if so I hope he's up for that role.

 

[Dingo44]

Don't know if anyone noticed Savoie was at the annual NHLPA Rookie Showcase last week. I know I didn't.

34 rookies and prospects take part in 13th annual NHLPA Rookie Showcase

The group included Connor Bedard, Leo Carlsson, Logan Cooley and Matthew Knies.

www.nhlpa.com

 

[joshjull]

 

[BuffaloGooner]

I feel vindicated for thinking about this at the end of last season as I’m rarely making a stink about anything that makes any sense lmaoooo

I hope this kid gets to go up a level. Selfishly for him, and also so Benson can be THE GUY on his team.

 

[Zman5778]

NHL rookie idols: Who inspired Bedard, Cooley, Wallstedt, other future stars?

Ready to feel old? The league's incoming first-year classmates identify the players who inspired them the most while growing up.

www.espn.com

Matthew Savoie, C, Buffalo Sabres​

There are many young players who take their inspiration from McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. But as a young Oilers fan, Savoie found himself rooting for someone else: forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

"I actually skated with Nugent-Hopkins this summer. To see him firsthand was really good for me," he said. "Kind of a smaller guy from the West who really improved his game."

That Nugent-Hopkins isn't frequently mentioned as a hockey idol fits his aesthetic: Entering his 13th season, he remains an underrated talent, even after breaking 100 points for the first time in his career this past season.

"He was a 104-point guy for a reason. When you see him in summer skates, you can tell that. He's finishing everything. He's making good passes. He knows where everyone is on the ice," Savoie said. "Just to see that firsthand and kind of take things from his game was huge."

 

[Jim Bob]

 

[Fjordy]

Sucks, he could thrive in the AHL, instead he'll be playing against kids again.

 

[Jim Bob]

Sucks, he could thrive in the AHL, instead he'll be playing against kids again.

Lance was also being a bit disingenuous for me as he threw in Savoie's USHL games played when the CHL could not care less about those games when determining if a player should be allowed to play in the AHL.

 

[UnleashRasmus]

Furthermore with Savoie turning 20, on January 1st, one day removed from the December 31st cut off, it's ludicrous that he cannot not get the same exception. Comparitively speaking Savoie's CHL time has dwarfed Wright's.

 

[Jacob582]

 

[Jim Bob]

Wright is four days younger than Savoie and has played 68 fewer junior games. The difference is that Savoie, unlike Wright, hasn’t been credited with playing four full seasons in the CHL. Every player was credited for the 2020-21 season, even though the WHL played a limited schedule in a bubble because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the 22 games Savoie appeared in for the Winnipeg Ice in 2019-20 aren’t counted because he was an emergency recall from midget hockey. Another source with direct knowledge of the situation explained to The News that the OHL, which cleared Wright, has a different set of criteria it follows when deciding on a case-by-case basis if a prospect can graduate to the AHL.

 

[Yultron]

I expect Savoie makes the team and if he stays the entire season will depend on how he does in the 9 game audition .

 

[brian_griffin]

I don’t understand these rules at all that a player cannot play from CHL and cannot play in the AHL until a certain age.

It's designed to protect the profits for the CHL teams. Keeping most of their players until 20yo is their viable business model as unlike European teams they don't have junior then senior level affiliation

I just don't really like the idea of a guy like Savoie possibly continuing to play with kids next season when he could have gotten experience in the AHL, especially considering how well Appert is working with young players right now.

I fully understand the CHL rules as it would be "bad" for several junior clubs with one or more stars to either have a strong chance or already be on a trajectory for the Memorial Cup, then have players depart mid-season for the AHL once they turned 20yo in real-world (non-hockey-world) age.

IF the WHL sticks to its guns and won't grant an exemption to leave, one upside of staying in Junior is he won't face the more physical play, and perhaps higher risk of cheap-shot play, of the AHL. Unless he has grown more, Savoie isn't a big guy. In that regard, IMO, NHL vs. CHL and no AHL option isn't a "completely terrible" outcome. That said, small skill NHL players (Martin St. Louis as poster child) can survive (again IMO) because the top-to-bottom talent drop-off isn't as large as the AHL where a larger guy feels the need to neutralize that skill difference with excessive physicality on occasion.

Do the Sabres have the option of assigning Savoie to a SEL team overseas, or is he bound to his junior team (or another CHL junior team if he is traded within the CHL) ???

=======
Edit: Thanks @Jim Bob, I expected that was the rule and precedent.

 

[Jim Bob]

Do the Sabres have the option of assigning Savoie to a SEL team overseas, or is he bound to his junior team (or another CHL junior team if he is traded within the CHL) ???

He was under contract with his WHL team prior to signing with the Sabres. So, the Sabres cannot move him to another team outside of the CHL-NHL transfer agreement.

 

[Yultron]

Wow those 2 highlight real goals by Savoie tho wow , he is simply incredibly talented . He has the leg up right now on Kulich to make the team and his hustle and determination is through the roof right now he looks more confident then ever