Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Hockey season got underway at Harborcenter on Wednesday, as the Buffalo Sabres' prospects skated and practiced for 90 minutes, getting ready for this weekend’s Prospect Challenge.
A total of five former first-round picks were on the ice for the Sabres on Wednesday, including junior hockey linemates Zach Benson and Matt Savoie.
Savoie got a taste of professional hockey in last year’s Calder Cup Playoffs, playing two games for the Rochester Americans in the Eastern Conference Final.
With the Winnipeg Ice (now the Wenatchee Wild) of the Western Hockey League, Savoie had 38 goals and 57 assists for 95 points in 62 games. He added 29 points (11+18) in 19 playoff games.
The 2022 ninth overall pick is just happy to be in Buffalo competing for a job with the Sabres,
"I’m excited. I’ve been waiting all summer to get back down here to Buffalo, and to be healthy and have a full summer of training and being in a normal routine. it was big for me," said Savoie on Wednesday.
When the Sabres took Benson 13th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, Savoie got a text right away from the team's Director of Player Development, Adam Mair.
"I was ecstatic. I absolutely loved it," Savoie said. "We had a lot of chemistry playing on a line in Winnipeg, and he’s a tremendous player with a lot of skill. I’m looking forward to playing with him in the prospects tournament."
Savoie was centering Benson and 2019 fifth-round pick Filip Cederqvist on Wednesday. Jiri Kulich was wearing his new No. 20, and centering Isak Rosen and Olivier Nadeau. Meanwhile, Russians Aleksandr Kisakov and Viktor Neuchev were centered by Tyson Kozak.
Savoie was in a bit over his head during the Calder Cup Playoffs against a bigger and more experienced Hershey Bears team. Despite that, he said he learned a lot from that experience.
"It was a great learning lesson," he said. "Getting my first taste of pro hockey, and to see the speed and physicality they play at, it helped me to use the summer to adjust my game and work on things that I need to work on."
Savoie didn’t realize how physical an older team like the Bears was. He realized he couldn’t skate away from guys like he could in juniors, and it’s an adjustment he worked on during the summer.
The 19-year-old missed the cutoff to play the entire 2023-24 season in the American Hockey League by one day. He will either have to play the entire year with the Sabres in the NHL, or return to juniors with the Wild.
During the 2023 NHL Draft, it was announced that forward Jack Quinn will miss some time to start the year due to an Achilles injury. That has opened up a roster spot in Buffalo, and Savoie is looking to seize the opportunity,
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"It’s my goal to make it right out of training camp," Savoie said. "I feel like I’ve trained and prepared really well for this, to put myself in a position to be able to stick around."
I asked Savoie if after two very good years in junior hockey, is there anything else for him to prove playing there? He paused for more than a moment to think out his answer.
"You can always find ways to improve and work on your game, and elements that weren’t there in previous years. If that’s the situation, I’m going to go back, put my head down and work as hard as I can to round out my game, and to work on areas that maybe I wouldn’t have worked on in the past and just become a more all around player," Savoie eventually said.
Other players fans may be interested in paying attention to this weekend are 2019 first-round pick Ryan Johnson, 2021 sixth-round pick Nikita Novikov, 2022 fourth-round pick Mats Lindgren and 2023 fifth-round goalie Scott Ratzlaff,
2022 fifth-round defenseman Vsevolod Komarov suffered a lower-body injury while training, so he won’t be playing this weekend.
Buffalo's first game will come Friday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens will have 2023 fifth overall pick David Reinbacher on the roster for the tournament. Filip Mesar was Montreal’s second first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, going 26th overall. In addition, the 33rd overall pick in 2022, Owen Beck will also be on the Habs' roster.
Join me, Brian Koziol and Brayton Wilson for all the action this Friday on WGR, starting at 7 p.m. ET.
