Player Discussion Matthew Savoie

Heavy Dee

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May 29, 2005
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Interesting. The one that kept going around was that CHL just didn't want to recognize someone out West [and especially out of St Albert, Alberta of all places]. Sounds preposterous but then again, Hockey Canada is corrupt AF and definitely has their biases
He and two other high profile players left the St. ALBERT Midget AAA program for the CSSHL School at NAX. It was the start of the fracture between Hockey Alberta, Club Teams and Schools. He was then blackballed by Hockey Alberta and Hockey Canada. It's no secret around that community. So you're right.
 

Arpeggio

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Jul 20, 2006
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Edmonton
He'll get called up by December if he can be at a point per game. I don't think the plan is to bring him along slowly, the Oilers are desperate for youth. I think they just want him to show that he's ready to some degree before inserting him in the lineup.
 

K1984

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Feb 7, 2008
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Funny times around here.

For over a decade, we heard loud complaints about how prospects were "rushed" and the Oilers were "ruining" them by putting them in the lineup too early. We were so addicted to this line of thinking, that I actually remember a small number of people advocating to send McDavid down to Erie after we drafted him as we didn't want to "rush."

Fast forward a few years and we lose a few guys to offer sheets and now we're stupid for not just slingshotting every player under 23 into the lineup because young.
 

Drivesaitl

Finding Hemingway
Oct 8, 2017
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Islands in the stream.
Funny times around here.

For over a decade, we heard loud complaints about how prospects were "rushed" and the Oilers were "ruining" them by putting them in the lineup too early. We were so addicted to this line of thinking, that I actually remember a small number of people advocating to send McDavid down to Erie after we drafted him as we didn't want to "rush."

Fast forward a few years and we lose a few guys to offer sheets and now we're stupid for not just slingshotting every player under 23 into the lineup because young.
Theres been as many complaints about forwards not getting opportunity in the show. Your comment applies to D which take longer to develop. Topten pick forwards are as ready to unpack as anything and most teams do it.

Did Dallas ruin Johnson or Stankoven putting NHL jerseys on them so early. No, not at all, they rose instantly to the task. They were a primary reason the Stars got to conference final.

Ditto Caufield in Montreal. Ditto many other examples.

We traded a roster player for a highly touted talented prospect. So lets use him.
 

Drivesaitl

Finding Hemingway
Oct 8, 2017
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Islands in the stream.
He'll get called up by December if he can be at a point per game. I don't think the plan is to bring him along slowly, the Oilers are desperate for youth. I think they just want him to show that he's ready to some degree before inserting him in the lineup.
Hopefully this is it. But its the same org that gave another premium prospect forward only 36 games last season. just saying.
 

Oilslick941611

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Jul 4, 2006
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Ottawa
Yamomoto gets underated here. The kid is 5'7 and light as a feather and he managed to have 114 hits in one season. He took a ton of beating. If he played a p***y game like Gaudreau or Quinn Hughes, it would have been better for his career.
Under rated? He has flamed out on every team he has been on since leaving the Oilers for more money. Hes properly rated and out of the league. Guy rode a 12 game hot streak into another contract and he seems like he’s going to be an AHL’er for the rest of his career.
 

K1984

Registered User
Feb 7, 2008
15,394
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Theres been as many complaints about forwards not getting opportunity in the show. Your comment applies to D which take longer to develop. Topten pick forwards are as ready to unpack as anything and most teams do it.

Did Dallas ruin Johnson or Stankoven putting NHL jerseys on him so early. No, not at all, they rose instantly to the task.

Ditto Caufield in Montreal. Ditto many other examples.

We traded a roster player for a highly touted talented prospect. So lets use him.

Picking guys high didn't stop the "rushed" obsession. "Rushing" was blamed for Gagner and RNH not both being superstars. Hall was considered "rushed" by some as well. Ditto for Yakupov. Basically any prospect that didn't pan out to the level people wanted them to be was because of the purported rushing. For a solid decade this board lamented the Oilers not following the Ken Holland "over ripe" approach.

Now we have guys that legitimately require/required seasoning, including the two offer sheet players that we lost, but we're dumb for doing so because we're panicked about having a younger roster. The failure with Broberg and Holloway was that we kept kicking them up and down from the AHL to NHL, so they never got traction in either league until the end, not because we didn't just pop them into the NHL lineup in a big role. We need to avoid doing the same with Savoie. He needs to come up at a time when we feel pretty good about him coming up and having a really good chance to stay up and have a real role.

I want Savoie up at some point this year for sure, but I think that's better saved for a time when essentially the entire forward group with the big club aren't playing like a bunch of mopey losers, and he has more pro games under his belt. The time to do it could be as soon as a few weeks from now assuming the results keep coming, but I don't think it's now.
 
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Oilslick941611

Registered User
Jul 4, 2006
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Ottawa
Funny times around here.

For over a decade, we heard loud complaints about how prospects were "rushed" and the Oilers were "ruining" them by putting them in the lineup too early. We were so addicted to this line of thinking, that I actually remember a small number of people advocating to send McDavid down to Erie after we drafted him as we didn't want to "rush."

Fast forward a few years and we lose a few guys to offer sheets and now we're stupid for not just slingshotting every player under 23 into the lineup because young.
And its the same people as well who criticized the rushing that are critizing not playing him
 

Drivesaitl

Finding Hemingway
Oct 8, 2017
49,451
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Islands in the stream.
Yamomoto gets underated here. The kid is 5'7 and light as a feather and he managed to have 114 hits in one season. He took a ton of beating. If he played a p***y game like Gaudreau or Quinn Hughes, it would have been better for his career.
Is there a time statute on thinking Yamanothing is a kid just because he has the stature of one? Kailor is Age 26. Is he going to be referred to as a young adult at the age of 40? Will he still need ID to get in the bar?
 

Drivesaitl

Finding Hemingway
Oct 8, 2017
49,451
63,710
Islands in the stream.
Picking guys high didn't stop the "rushed" obsession. "Rushing" was blamed for Gagner and RNH not both being superstars. Hall was considered "rushed" by some as well. Ditto for Yakupov. Basically any prospect that didn't pan out to the level people wanted them to be was because of the purported rushing. For a solid decade this board lamented the Oilers not following the Ken Holland "over ripe" approach.

Now we have guys that legitimately require/required seasoning, including the two offer sheet players that we lost, but we're dumb for doing so because we're panicked about having a younger roster. The failure with Broberg and Holloway was that we kept kicking them up and down from the AHL to NHL, so they never got traction in either league until the end, not because we didn't just pop them into the NHL lineup in a big role. We need to avoid doing the same with Savoie. He needs to come up at a time when we feel pretty good about him coming up and having a really good chance to stay up.

I want Savoie up at some point this year for sure, but I think that's better saved for a time when essentially the entire forward group with the big club aren't playing like a bunch of mopey losers, and he has more pro games under his belt. The time to do it could be as soon as a few weeks from now assuming the results keep coming, but I don't think it's now.
Well. FTR I wanted Samwise retained up here, showed he could and indeed was one of the best players. It wasn't rushing him that stalled him it was lawless NHL and lack of any real player safety and guys like Kassian breaking jaws on non hockey plays.

Through and through I've wanted forward prospects that are able to be in the show. Would far prefer them to some of the narcoleptics we have in lineup now.

I see your points but of course a range of viewpoints always exists. There probably is no one right answer and I think approaching on a case by case player basis also makes sense. i.e. what does the player himself feel. Does he feel he's ready. To me anyway Savoie was communicating that.
Thanks for the reply.
 

K1984

Registered User
Feb 7, 2008
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Well. FTR I wanted Samwise retained up here, showed he could and indeed was one of the best players. It wasn't rushing him that stalled him it was lawless NHL and lack of any real player safety and guys like Kassian breaking jaws on non hockey plays.

Through and through I've wanted forward prospects that are able to be in the show. Would far prefer them to some of the narcoleptics we have in lineup now.

I see your points but of course a range of viewpoints always exists. There probably is no one right answer and I think approaching on a case by case player basis also makes sense. i.e. what does the player himself feel. Does he feel he's ready. To me anyway Savoie was communicating that.
Thanks for the reply.

I wanted all those guys up too, the "rush" narrative annoyed me at the time, pretty much as much as the "why aren't we throwing all these young players in!" opposite narrative now.

Players should be on the big club when they're ready to play on the big club, and play the role that they are designed to play on the big club. Age shouldn't matter, draft stock shouldn't matter, age of players on the main roster shouldn't matter. Waivers are about the only thing other than their pure ability at the NHL level that should be considered.

If everyone feels good about Savoie coming up, playing in a top 6 role and having a really good chance of staying in a top 6 role, then call him up yesterday. What I don't want to see is him come up, play a few games with Leon, not score, get shuffled down the lineup, not score, then get kicked back to the AHL in December to basically start all over again. That's what happened constantly with Broberg and Holloway. Had they just stayed in the A until they were truly ready to take a role I think the entire experience would have ended differently, including the player frustration that ultimately exited at least one of them.
 
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Canovin

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Under rated? He has flamed out on every team he has been on since leaving the Oilers for more money. Hes properly rated and out of the league. Guy rode a 12 game hot streak into another contract and he seems like he’s going to be an AHL’er for the rest of his career.
Is there a time statute on thinking Yamanothing is a kid just because he has the stature of one? Kailor is Age 26. Is he going to be referred to as a young adult at the age of 40? Will he still need ID to get in the bar?
The Oilers could use Yamamoto right now while McDavid is out
 

Canovin

1% is the new 11.5%
Oct 27, 2010
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A very small, not overly fast player that doesn't score and gets blown apart on the walls in the D zone.

Exactly what we need.
Has done poorly and also well here just like a lot of the roster here. For league minimum that's worth the try
 

Stoneman89

Registered User
Feb 8, 2008
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Has done poorly and also well here just like a lot of the roster here. For league minimum that's worth the try
Isn't it bad enough that we already brought back Cagullia for a return engagement rather than doubling down and bringing back another failed experiment?
 
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McFlash97

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Oct 10, 2017
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Has done poorly and also well here just like a lot of the roster here. For league minimum that's worth the try
The reason the Oilers are in this spot in the first place is because of this line of reasoning.

Emberson
Dermott
Stecher
Podkolzin
Perry

You could literally close your eyes and pick another 4 guys off waivers to play on the same team as McDrai, make a random trade and get better results.

None of them have provided any tangible results in any way.
 

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