The Buffalo Sabres’ 2022 first-round pick is headed back to junior hockey after a tough injury, great rehab in Rochester, and a brief NHL debut.
PITTSBURGH — Buffalo Sabres 2022 first-round pick Matt Savoie is headed back to the Wenatchee Wild in the WHL.
Savoie was reassigned to his junior team on Saturday afternoon, a day after he made his NHL debut against the Minnesota Wild. Savoie’s debut was light as he played five shifts for 3:55 and didn’t see the ice again after he completed his final shift with under five minutes to play in the second period.
Savoie’s stat line Friday night was light. He was credited with a shot attempt that was blocked, but it was decision-making that led to him not playing much. He had passes cleanly intercepted by Wild defenders and, although he wasn’t credited with any giveaways, there were turnovers that the Wild took advantage of and ultimately led to him sitting out most of the game.
“We were lucky to have the opportunity to have Savoie come in,” Sabres coach Don Granato said on Saturday. “We had hoped a couple weeks ago—we certainly weren’t hoping for injuries a couple weeks ago—but that was really the only way were going to get him on a roster and get him in a game. Fortunately, we were able to do that and get him that experience, but he had a really good six games in Rochester. Our hope and intent was to have him play in Rochester this season, and the way the rules are we couldn’t quite get that done. So, it was a bonus to have him play those six games, play last night, and a couple weeks ago we were worried we might not have that opportunity.”
The Sabres had no choice of where to send Savoie. Since Savoie doesn’t turn 20 until New Year’s Day, the only options he had were to play in the NHL or go back to Wenatchee. Had he been born a day sooner he likely would have stayed in the AHL with Rochester. During his six-game conditioning stint with the Americans, Savoie had two goals and three assists and showed that the AHL is a level where he could have success and grow.
Unfortunately, the stone-aged agreement between the NHL and the Canadian Hockey League that’s more meant to protect CHL team interests than those of the players supersedes what’s best for players and NHL or AHL teams alike. That it hasn’t been amended in some way as the NHL gets younger year-by-year and teams would prefer to be more hands-on with player development of elite prospects is as backwards as it gets.
Savoie’s departure leaves some questions for him as well as for the Sabres when it comes to how their own roster shapes up with one fewer player under consideration for the lineup.
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On Savoie
Matt Savoie’s next steps should be simple.
He’ll return to Wenatchee and while the location is new, how he performs shouldn’t change while he’s there. Savoie had 95 points in 62 games with the Winnipeg Ice last season and that was an improvement on his 90-point season (in 65 games) in 2021-2022.
Is there more to gain playing there? Depends on your point of view.
The challenge against opponents will be different. Talent-wise, he’s better than most of the league, but now it’s up to him to bring the professional habits and mindset with him. This part of being reassigned applies at all levels of pro hockey. It’s why watching a player when they’re sent to the AHL bears a lot of watching to see how they handle it. It’s natural for players to be disappointed, but if that disappointment leads to an extended slump or degradation of their play, that turns into a red flag.
“That is something that is such an intangible that you’re obviously concerned about that,” Granato said. “In all honesty, you see him play in Rochester and you know how beneficial that can be for certain reasons but the way the rules are, the player has to go back to his junior team if he has junior eligibility. That’s just the way it is. It’s a tough one because he did very well there and as we know it’s a great place to develop and when you have talent like that, you want to get him in as much of a challenging situation as you can and we know the American League is very challenging.”
For Savoie, they want to see him go back and play with proper motivation and dominate opponents, racking up points like mad while applying everything he’s learned from his pro teammates. This shouldn’t be difficult for him because it’s this kind of approach he should bring to World Junior camp as well. The Sabres believe in Savoie and they know they’ve got a player who could be a major part of what they’re building, but everyone grows and develops at different rates.
Fan opinions and team opinions differ greatly when it comes to these kinds of things, but the Sabres also have one heck of a roster crunch to get a handle of right now and getting Savoie back to juniors was the simple decision that wasn’t the easiest to make. It’s tricky because the sky is the limit for Savoie and there are parts to the Sabres lineup that aren’t clicking just yet (Peyton Krebs and Victor Olofsson for instance) and while they await Jack Quinn’s return, there’s more work to be done there. But for Savoie, learning more elsewhere and getting the games and ice time a player of his talent and age needs was the most important thing.
“He’s so young,” Granato said. “He doesn’t have any real experience yet and he had to deal with that injury which is really tough for a guy at that age is injured in training camp. And you know from our prospect pool, we have (Isak) Rosén, (Jiri) Kulich and on and on in Rochester right now. (Savoie)’s progressing and we wanted to do what we could to help that progression and I believe that the longer we were able to keep him around here, the more insight he could get, the more hindsight he could get as well. He took a lot of hindsight from last camp last year and he came back better and I’m certain that will help him every day he was here, knowing his personality.”