Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) – Two high-end Buffalo Sabres prospects just finished playing in the CHL Memorial Cup this past week.
Matt Savoie, one of the Sabres' first-round picks in the 2022 NHL Draft, got to the semifinal round of the tournament with the Moose Jaw Warriors, while 2022 fifth-round defenseman Vsevolod Komarov got there with the Drummondville Voltigeurs.
Savoie played for four teams this season, because he couldn’t be sent to the American Hockey League for a full season. He did get to play six games on injury rehab with the Rochester Americans, where he scored two goals and added three assists for five points.
After that, he got to play 3:55 in one game for the Sabres before being sent back to junior hockey with the Wenatchee Wild in the Western Hockey League.
In 11 games with the Wild, Savoie had 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points. He was then traded to Moose Jaw, where he collected 19 goals and 28 assists for 47 points in 23 games.
In the postseason, Savoie played another 23 games and scored 11 goals and 17 assists for 28 points.
With four teams over the course of the 2023-24 season, Savoie played 64 games, including the playoffs.
The age rule in the Canadian Hockey League is there to protect junior teams from losing all their good players. However, Shane Wright was in the same spot last year with the Seattle Kraken as Savoie was this year in Buffalo.
I think Savoie got very little from ripping up junior hockey again, and would’ve been better served in Rochester with the Amerks. I think every team should have one exception to the CHL rule, which wouldn’t kill junior hockey.
Savoie will either be in Rochester or Buffalo next season.
Last year, Komarov won the Memorial Cup with the Quebec Ramparts in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, coached by current New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy.
This season, he started in Quebec and was then traded to Drummondville after 22 games. From there, the 6-foot-3, 187-pound 20-year-old won QMJHL Defenseman of the Year, scoring 14 goals and 55 assists for 69 points in 60 games. He was also second in the league with 105 penalty minutes.
While Komarov is listed at 187 pounds, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s now over 200 pounds.
Komarov also was the league’s playoff MVP, as the Voltigeurs won the QMJHL championship and went to the Memorial Cup.
He will likely be in Rochester this upcoming season along with the vastly improved Nikita Novikov and probably Ryan Johnson.
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The Sabres also have two picks from last June playing in the college ranks.
Second-round pick Maxim Strbak just finished his Freshman season with the Michigan State Spartans, while Clarence Center native and third-round pick Gavin McCarthy just finished his Freshman season with Boston University.
Buffalo also took another defenseman, Norwin Ponocha, in the seventh-round of the 2023 NHL Draft. He played his first year in North America during the 2023-24 season with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens of the QMJHL.
