{"id":545264,"date":"2026-03-18T20:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545264\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T20:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:45:17","slug":"rookie-matt-savoies-surge-earns-him-spot-alongside-connor-mcdavid-on-edmonton-oilers-top-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/545264\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie Matt Savoie\u2019s surge earns him spot alongside Connor McDavid on Edmonton Oilers\u2019 top line"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON \u2014 Overlooked amid the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>\u2019 erratic season has been the steady, albeit unspectacular, performance of rookie forward Matt Savoie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old native of St. Albert, a bedroom community abutting Edmonton\u2019s northwest, has been moved around various lines as head coach Kris Knoblauch searches for consistent and effective combinations. Recently, however, the speedy, sometimes abrasive Savoie has found a fit on the top line with Connor McDavid<\/a> and Zach Hyman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McDavid, whose pace can be a challenge for linemates, said he has been impressed by the youngster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just noticed the energy he\u2019s playing with, lots of jump, lots of juice, keeping lots of pucks alive, getting in on the forecheck and retrieving pucks. It\u2019s been impressive,\u201d McDavid said. \u201cThe little things he does so well, like a dog on a bone. Super, super skilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a modest start, Savoie has produced nine points in his last 11 games, giving him 11 goals and 28 points in 69 games.<\/p>\n

He scored the game-winning goal against the Nashville Predators<\/a> on Sunday to open the Oilers\u2019 four-game homestand, and his crease-side deflection set up Hyman\u2019s clincher in Tuesday\u2019s 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a guy who\u2019s got an unbelievable motor \u2014 he just goes, goes, goes,\u201d Hyman said of the Buffalo Sabres<\/a>\u2019 ninth overall pick in 2022. \u201cHe skates as well as anyone in the league and can make plays. He\u2019s going to play in the top six for a long, long time. Just a phenomenal player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hyman added that Savoie, in his first NHL season, will only improve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people forget how young he is. Everyone expects a first-round draft pick to come in and just light it up right away. It takes time in this league, time to understand how to play and grow. I was 24 when I came into the league, and it took me years to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although his offensive and plus-minus numbers have been steady all season, Savoie said his overall game wasn\u2019t early on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first half, there were stretches where a couple of good games, a couple bad games, get a bunch of looks and then go cold for a bit,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I feel like since the (Olympic) break, or the Christmas break, I feel I\u2019ve been more consistent game by game and just playing a better all-around game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 5-10, 180-pound winger said the game has \u201creally slowed down\u201d for him since the three-week Olympic break.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling more comfortable with the puck, my legs are feeling really good. I was able to reset and kind of take a step away to assess how my first two-thirds of the season went. I was happy with it, but I knew there were some things I had to address.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he had to adjust to the role of being, at least temporarily, McDavid\u2019s winger.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be tough playing with a guy like that \u2014 the speed he plays at and some of the plays he makes \u2014 but I\u2019m definitely getting more used to it and accustomed to how quickly the passes come,\u201d Savoie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you\u2019re not expecting it, but that\u2019s part of growing into being one of his linemates \u2014 always being ready for that play and being in a scoring position.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the plays he\u2019s able to make, not many guys can. So it\u2019s been a lot of fun. He drives a lot of the play, so it\u2019s fun to play with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

That adjustment hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed by teammates, including veteran Ryan Nugent-Hopkins<\/a>, who has often played alongside McDavid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the offensive side of things has clicked into place a little bit,\u201d Nugent-Hopkins said of Savoie. \u201cBut I think his mindset, the way he has played all season, hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a dynamic young player. He really thinks the game well. That\u2019s why you can put him out there as a young kid on the penalty kill and trust him. Obviously, a great skill set, too, but he goes into those hard areas and plays with confidence. He\u2019s been great for us all season, so it\u2019s nice to see it starting to reward him.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.<\/p>\n

John Korobanik, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 Overlooked amid the Edmonton Oilers\u2019 erratic season has been the steady, albeit unspectacular, performance of rookie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-545264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545264","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=545264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}