{"id":137191,"date":"2025-09-11T22:46:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137191\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T22:46:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:46:08","slug":"howard-savoie-looking-to-make-youthful-impact-on-contending-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137191\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard, Savoie looking to make youthful impact on contending Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON \u2014\u00a0As a contending team that has dealt away draft picks for years, any young and possibly impactful players the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> have are indeed precious.<\/p>\n

Enter Ike Howard and Matt Savoie<\/a>, a pair of 21-year-old wingers who have arrived at the same intersection at precisely the same time \u2014\u00a0yet took completely different routes to get here.<\/p>\n

Today, the top two forward prospects in the Oilers organization are rooming together at rookie camp: Savoie, the St. Albert-born veteran of the Western Hockey League collected from Buffalo in the Ryan McLeod trade; Howard, the confident American who forced his way out of Tampa when his camp refused to start his professional career at AHL Syracuse.<\/p>\n

Howard knows that\u2019s not a great look, and did not hesitate when asked if he\u2019d report to Bakersfield if his first run at an NHL job falls short over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean \u2026 that’s not my call. It’s not my judgment. There are people that get paid a lot of money to make those calls. I’m just a player, so I\u2019ve just got to show up, and do what I can. See where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, Howard has grown up through the fire of a salty breakup with Tampa, the team that drafted him 31st overall in 2022. Meanwhile, Savoie was blindsided by his first trade.<\/p>\n

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A left winger, Howard spent last season trying to win an NCAA championship with Michigan State. Meanwhile, the right winger Savoie went to Bako and took a step that likely has placed him a notch up the depth chart from Howard, as the rookies take to the ice Friday against the Calgary Flames rookies at Rogers Place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the organization, I know everybody. I have a kind of a feel for everything,\u201d Savoie said of the difference a year in Bakersfield \u2014 plus four games in The Show \u2014\u00a0has made. \u201cLast year, coming into camp, I was pretty nervous getting my feet wet early. This year, I think it’s more belief that I can do something special this year and be a contributor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard will attempt to bridge the massive chasm that is the step up from the NCAA to the NHL. It\u2019s been done many times, but on a percentage basis of those who have tried, starting your pro career at the highest level is rare indeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to make a seamless jump to the NHL. Right from the get go, just play my game and be effective offensively, in my own end. I just want to be impactful,\u201d he said. \u201cMy game is winning hockey \u2014\u00a0that’s why I’m excited about this fit I think I’m ready to take this on, play both sides of the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a reason the American Hockey League exists, and Savoie is a product of that, says Bakersfield head coach Colin Chaulk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a really big jump,\u201d said Chaulk after the first rookies practice. \u201c(Savoie played) 20-plus games with not a lot of offensive production, but what we saw was him blocking shots, playing with two hands and heavy on his stick, withstanding a heavier veteran of 400-500 games leaning on him. We saw him understanding when to take risks and when maybe just to live the fight another day. And that takes time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we saw with Matt was becoming a young man.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, while Howard was racking up 26 goals and 52 points in 37 games in the Big Ten, Savoie put together a 19-goal, 54-point rookie season in 66 AHL games.<\/p>\n

Howard had more points. Savoie did it against better competition. Against men.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see who looks more like an NHL player when the main camp opens up next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is, there are some older players in our conference, based on the cities,\u201d Chaulk said. \u201cIt is heavier and is meaner. It’s harder, and I believe that is exactly where you want your prospects to be, playing against that type of competition. There’s not a lot of space in the National League, and they need to feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard hopes he doesn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014\u00a0As a contending team that has dealt away draft picks for years, any young and possibly impactful…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-137191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}