Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - In the next part of our multi-faceted series covering the 2022 NHL Draft, we travel back to the Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League to focus on center Matthew Savoie.
Savoie is the second player we've covered that plays for the Ice, with the first being his teammate, Conor Geekie. They have been teammates since 2019, and both combined for almost 200 points last season.
The St. Albert, Alberta native is currently ranked fourth overall among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. Earlier in the year, he was projected to be a top-five pick off of the board, however, as the year went on, his stock fell as others rose.
Current projections show he could be drafted between the fifth and 19th pick, so the Sabres could target him at ninth or 16th overall.
Profile
Savoie is a small, speedy, scoring center who has dazzled scouts for years in both the WHL and United States Hockey League with the Dubuque Fighting Saints. Coming in at 5-foot-9 and 179 pounds, Savoie may not be the biggest player out there, but he makes up for it with his skating speed and his shot.
He fashions himself as a sniper with a high-power shot that can beat most goalies at his level. It’s going to take some time to see if this shot can transition to the NHL, but seeing that he can score 35 goals at the WHL level, prospects look good for him to continue his scoring ways.
Savoie played 65 games for Winnipeg this past season and recorded 90 points (35+55), which is a career-high for him in the WHL. He also recorded 12 points in 10 games in the playoffs for the Ice.
The 18-year-old still has two more years of eligibility in the WHL with the Ice, and is set to return to the team next season unless the team that drafts him deems fit that he joins their team right away.
Positives
As mentioned before, Savoie has an incredible shot that he utilizes from all different spots in the offensive zone. With a quick deceptive release, a shot from the perimeter can easily fool goalies and create a goal or an easy rebound for one of his teammates in front of the net.
Along with a powerful shot, Savoie has an incredible stride. Despite being only 5-foot-9, he’s able to move himself very well to evade defenders with hard strides and crossovers that allow him to gain momentum while entering the offensive zone.
These two skills, that can be combined with some decent stickhandling, allow Savoie to make any spot in the offensive zone a dangerous goal scoring opportunity for his team.
Negatives
The biggest problem for Savoie, in most instances, is that he lacks the confidence to go 100% all the time. This isn’t as much of a problem in the offensive zone as it is the defensive zone.
Being a smaller player, Savoie lacks the size to help out as much on defense, which then can lead to confidence issues. While he always gets back to help on defense, there isn’t always a way for him to help, as he gets muscled off the puck by bigger, stronger players.
If he can add some size and start gaining confidence in the next year, he can then return to the level of prospect he was at the beginning of the season. He has all of the right tools, now he needs someone to help him use them to their full abilities.
NHL comparison
Savoie is an exceptional skater with great hands and an amazing shot. While this is possessed by most top-round draft choices, one stands out above the rest. This player also played in the WHL on the Seattle Thunderbirds, putting up 88 points in 55 games in his draft year.
Mathew Barzal was drafted 16th overall in a loaded 2015 NHL Draft that still has elite level talent emerging. He uses his crossovers and stride to his advantage to create himself space and time to make plays for his team.
Barzal has played 362 NHL games, all with the New York Islanders, scoring 91 goals and 220 assists for a total of 311 points in that time.
Where does he fit on the Sabres?
A common theme in this draft are big centers who can style their game as power forwards in the NHL. As noted before, the Sabres have two very good prospects who can be described as such in Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens.
Savoie can bring something to the table that the Sabres don’t have, which is consistent speed down the middle. While it will take time for him to adjust to the speed of the NHL level, once Savoie does, he’ll be an unstoppable playmaking machine for any NHL club.
Given the fact that he has two years of eligibility left in the WHL, it would be best for the Sabres to let him play out those remaining two years and build up his strength and confidence.
Once he adjusts to the NHL level, the Sabres could slide Cozens to the wing position, as had been done at times this past year, and pair the two forwards together on the second line with a scoring winger on the other wing to create a line that could easily control the entire ice.
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