Buffalo trades high-end prospect Matthew Savoie for an immediate depth upgrade
The Buffalo Sabres trade that sent prospect Matthew Savoie to the Edmonton Oilers for center Ryan McLeod and minor leaguer Tyler Tullio on Friday helps the club in their immediate goal of improving their forward depth, but could, in the long run, be a deal that they regret.
Savoie was expected to challenge for an NHL roster spot entering last season’s training camp, but he suffered a shoulder injury in the finale of their prospect tournament last September. That caused the 2022 ninth-overall pick to miss all of the exhibition schedule and lose that spot to junior teammate Zach Benson.
After a brief conditioning stint with Rochester and making his NHL debut in early November, Savoie was sent back to the Wenatchee Wild of the Western Hockey League. Between the Wild and Moose Jaw Warriors, he had 71 points (30 goals, 41 assists) in 34 regular season games and 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in Moose Jaw’s run to the WHL Championship and a spot in the Memorial Cup. It was expected that the 20-year-old would be in the mix for a roster spot at camp, but more than likely he would start next season in the American Hockey League.
The 24-year-old McLeod is good defensively, has size (6’3”, 188 lb.) and excellent skating ability. He will likely slot in as the Sabres third-line center, giving Lindy Ruff a bigger option behind Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens than Peyton Krebs (currently an unsigned RFA), but the Mississauga, ON native will need to contribute more as a scorer than his career-high 12 goals without the luxury of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl playing above him in the lineup.
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Sabres GM Kevyn Adams’ willingness to move Savoie may be linked to the quality and depth of their prospect pool up the middle (2022 first-rounders Noah Ostlund and Jiri Kulich, 2023 second-rounder Anton Wahlberg, and 2024 top pick Konsta Helenius), as well as concerns about Savoie’s durability following his injury.
The club spent most of their time this week bolstering their bottom six (trading for Beck Malenstyn and signing free agents Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Jason Zucker, and Sam Lafferty) using the cap space freed up by the buyout of winger Jeff Skinner, but Adams to this point has not added a forward to replace Skinner.
The fact that Adams could not convert one of his top prospects into a more offensively impactful player is surprising, and only time will tell whether McLeod’s impact with the Sabres in the short term will equal Savoie’s impact with the Oilers in the long term.
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