This in from the Edmonton Oilers, news that they loaned winger Matt Savoie to the Bakersfield Condors.
Team insider Bob Stauffer reports: “This is being done purely for Cap purposes! Matt Savoie will play at least one game for the Condors in the American Hockey League. He has had a solid season to date for the Edmonton Oilers.”
And PuckPedia, the NHL salary cap expert, reports: “To activate Henrique from LTIR, Oilers needed to clear $112K of annual cap hit. Once sent down, Savoie will need to play 1 AHL game to be eligible to be called up.”
Ryan Holt of the Bakersfield media team reports Savoie will play Friday night against Calgary.
Savoie
My take
1. With injured Adam Henrique coming back soon, the Edmonton Oiles face a cap crunch. This is all the more acute because centre Josh Samanski has played so well in the Olympics and in his first five games with the Oilers that it’s become an imperative to continue his audition with the Oilers. Evidently in search of the necessary cap space to make things work in Edmonton, Savoie is headed to Bakersfield for now.
He does not have to clear waivers to go to the AHL, so he’s an obvious pick to go down, even as he’s played decent two-way hockey for the Oilers this year.
2. Savoie has done well enough in his rookie season, but he’s not yet a lock on the Edmonton Oilers. He’s demonstrated flashes of attacking brilliance, but not enough to secure a role in the Top 6. He’s shown some solid defensive hustle, but not yet enough overall awareness to make him a lock on the third line or as a penalty killer. At this point, I’ll suggest it’s more important that the Oilers stick with a big strong two-way centre like Samanski than it is to have Savoie on the Edmonton roster. That said, Savoie has played better two-way hockey than Andrew Mangiapane, Trent Frederic or Mattias Janmark. He’s a better player now than any of those three.
3. Henrique has a cap hit of $3 million, Janmark $1.45 million, Mangiapane $3.6 million, Samanski $975,000, and Savoie $887,000. I suspect Edmonton isn’t moving down Mangiapane now, as the hope is to trade him. Janmark might be sent down, but Edmonton coaches seem to trust his game, even as his offensive game is all but non-existent at this point and his defensive play is no longer great, just above average.
58 games
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