The 19-year-old played only 3:55 against Minnesota
The NHL debut for Matthew Savoie was just under four minutes and five shifts in the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Friday.
On Saturday, the seven-week ordeal that started with an impressive showing and an upper-body injury in the club’s prospect tournament in mid-September, a lengthy stint on injured reserve, a conditioning stint in the American Hockey League, and his first NHL game ended with the 19-year-old being sent back to the Wenatchee Wild of the WHL.
In six games with the Rochester Americans, Savoie had five points (2 goals, 3 assists) and six penalty minutes.
"With how long it was since I played a meaningful game, it definitely took a game or two, but I tried to try my best to just jump both feet in,” Savoie said last week. “I thought I did a good job with that, just attacking it the day I got there and found out some success."
The Sabres appeared to be playing out the same playbook that the Seattle Kraken used with Shane Wright last season, sending the 19-year-old to the AHL on conditioning stints and playing him sparingly until December when the 2022 fourth-overall pick was loaned to Team Canada for the IIHF World Junior Championships.
With a month until the opening of Canada’s World Junior camp, and the likelihood that Savoie would only be used sparingly between now and then, the Sabres decided that having him play regularly in the WHL was the better course of action.
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