BUFFALO, New York — Matt Savoie was back on the ice with the Buffalo swords Monday, and he will have the opportunity to make his NHL debut shortly. But that won’t happen Tuesday against Carolina Hurricanes.
Savoie, who missed all of training camp and the preseason after injuring his shoulder and elbow in the final game of the rookie tournament, just completed a six-game conditioning period with the Rochester Americans in the AHL. Sabers coach Don Granato said he wanted to give Savoie more time to practice before throwing him into the game. Especially with Buffalo’s upcoming game against an experienced and tough opponent like Carolina, Granato wants to show a little patience when dealing with Savoie.
The Sabers have already had to be patient with Savoie. He had a chance to fight for a spot on the team out of training camp before injuries took away that chance. He now has six AHL games under his belt and has performed well, scoring two goals and adding three assists while playing in all situations due to Rochester’s injury at forward.
“He’s just an honest player,” Amerks coach Seth Appert said after Savoie scored in the Rochester game Friday. “He plays hard, plays fast, plays the right way. He wants to be a winner. He cares about winning, not just pointing fingers. Some young players think a lot about points. He thinks about victories. That’s how he’s wired. I really like the way he handled these two weeks, the way he trained, his attitude, his training ability and his performance.
Buffalo can play Savoie for nine games before this season counts toward one on his entry-level contract. If the Sabers don’t keep him, Savoie will have to return to the WHL since he one day misses the age requirement to play in the AHL under the agreement between the CHL and the NHL. The Sabers could delay Savoie’s return to junior even further by stretching his games until early December, when Team Canada will hold its selection camp for the world juniors. Savoie could participate in this tournament before returning to the WHL.
But Savoie could also impress enough to stay in the NHL. The Sabers would be open to the possibility given the current status of their bottom six. Victor Olofsson has been scratched in five of Buffalo’s seven games this season. Sabers recalled Brandon Biro And Lucas Rousek last week and played them both against Olofsson. Peyton Krebs has bounced between the third and fourth lines and has only one point and seven shots on goal in 12 games. Zach Benson, who started the season strong, is now on injured reserve with a lower body injury. On Monday, Savoie rotated to right wing on a line with Rousek and Krebs, his former junior teammate.
The absence of Jack Quinn has had an impact on right wing depth, so Savoie taking this opportunity would be positive for the Sabres. But they’ll keep an open mind based on how he looks in practices and games.
“I think what’s going to happen next is always an unknown, and I think that’s just my motto,” Savoie said Monday. “Just staying present, staying in the now and working as hard as I can to be as good as I can be, wherever I am.” I think no matter where I end up, it will be positive for me to be able to develop and continue to play hard and improve.
Appert would like the AHL to be an option for a player like Savoie. He believes that the rule between the CHL and the NHL harms the development of high-end players like Savoie, ready to gain strength in the competition. Appert believes failure in the right environment accelerates the development of players who are wired like Savoie and does more than light up the scoreboard in juniors.
“People think getting a lot of points is a development,” Appert told reporters after Rochester’s win Friday. “It’s not. Scoring 120 or 130 points is not what development is about. Development is about playing at a high level that you’re ready for, but it’s high, facing adversity, failing and to develop your game through that failure to meet the challenge the league and your teammates face in practice. That’s development.”
Savoie has already shown a ton of growth from where he was in the two playoff games he played for Rochester in the spring. Now he can do it in the NHL, where adversity and failure are inevitable. But at least the first few months of his season were spent developing in professional hockey rather than dominating the WHL.
Here’s what else we think of the Sabers through 12 games.
1. While we’re talking about Buffalo’s top prospects, Jiri Kulich is off to a torrid start in Rochester. He has nine goals and 13 points in 10 games and seven of those goals came at five-on-five. Appert pushed Kulich and Isak Rosen to be competitive and be the team’s everyday drivers. Kulich is showing improvement defensively, as evidenced by his plus-2 rating after going minus-7 last season. Biro and Rousek were the first to be called up because their two-way game is more pro-ready than Kulich’s. Savoie was ahead of him on the call-up list due to his situation with the CHL. But Kulich is about to force the Sabres’ hand. Given the struggles Buffalo’s power play has had this season, Kulich could have added some utility. This is exactly the type of start the Sabers wanted to see from Kulich in Rochester after struggling at five-on-five during the preseason.
2. Olofsson will likely get another opportunity to slot into the lineup with Biro on injured reserve and Savoie getting up to speed. But Olofsson has done nothing to convince the Sabers that he deserves to be anything other than a rotation player. He has only one point in seven games. His ice time also decreased with each game he played. The Sabers seem determined to find ways to keep him out of the lineup. That’s not ideal for a player making $4.75 million, but with so many teams pressed against the cap, it’s difficult for the Sabers to find a solution at the moment.
3. This could also be an important stretch of games for Krebs. So far this season, Kyle Okposo And Zemgus Girgensons had almost as much ice time as Tyson Jost like they did with Krebs. In 41:09 of five-on-five ice time with Krebs, this line has a 39 percent shot attempt share, a 33 percent expected goal share, a 21 percent scoring chance share and a high-danger scoring chance share of 28 percent. In 35:46 of five-on-five ice time with Jost, this line accounts for 51 percent of shot attempts, 59 percent of expected goals, 70 percent of scoring chances and 75 percent of high-danger chances . The sample size is small, but Jost has earned his spot as a regular when healthy. The Sabers also need to see if Krebs can be a fit with more skilled linemates given his passing ability. The first part of the season is about a team finding its identity and determining where players fit into lineups. This is one of those questions that needs to be answered.
4. Ryan Johnson received a call-up on Saturday and on Monday, he had the chance to skate on the best pair with Rasmus Dahlin. Granato said it was a simple case of Johnson’s ability to read situations as Dahlin’s partner.
“I thought he did an incredible job in training camp and looking at his shifts and watching him during the game, he was good in those areas again,” Granato said.
Shooting there against Carolina would be a tall order, but Johnson’s skating and passing ability could help against a team willing to throw the puck behind the defense and forecheck hard. This is a major chance for Johnson to prove himself and succeed Jacob Brison on the organizational depth chart.
5. Granato said the Sabers will return to a goalie rotation even though Levi is now healthy. At the start of the season, Levi played four consecutive games to adjust to the pace of professional hockey. But with the way Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has played, Granato doesn’t feel the need to turn to one goalie or another for most starts. This should be a much easier situation to handle with Eric Comrie injured, but when Comrie returns, things could get even more complicated. In three starts before his injury, Comrie placed 24th MoneyPuckTargets were recorded above the expected pattern. Luukkonen ranks 49th and Levi 59th. So there is still a lot to do to improve the net. The team’s five-on-five save percentage is fifth-worst in the NHL, in part due to the team’s fourth-worst five-on-five save percentage. But the team’s shorthanded save percentage is fourth-best in the NHL, so there are some positive signs. Inconsistency is why competition and turnover will continue.
(Top photo by Matt Savoie: Joshua Bessex/Getty Images)
