BLOG: Savoie's confidence growing with Oilers after sticking to strengths

EDMONTON, AB – Confidence is everything for an NHL player. Even more so for rookies.

Right now, Matt Savoie is showing he has plenty of it, having put together the best two-game stretch of his young career as the 21-year-old winger continues to make strides at the highest level and become an even more impactful player for the Oilers.

“He's getting more and more confident,” Connor McDavid said. “You can see some of his skills starting to come in. He’s going to the net hard. He's not the biggest guy ever, but he plays a big game and is highly competitive. We’re starting to see all that.”

The 5-foot-9 forward has scored three goals over his last two games – one at even strength, one on the power play and another while shorthanded – to reach the 10-point mark this season while playing in a top-six role after posting only a goal and an assist in his previous eight games.

Last Thursday’s 9-4 win over the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place saw Savoie score both on the power play and the penalty kill while recording 19:41 of ice time – his second-highest total of the season after playing three seconds more on Nov. 13 in a loss to Columbus.

Savoie played on the top line with McDavid earlier this season, but is currently enjoying his best stretch playing alongside Leon Draisaitl, getting back to the feeling of being one of his team's offensive leaders after coming off a highly productive junior career and making a strong first impression at the pro level.

Playing with the game's two top players is one of the many adjustments he's made to get his game to a spot where he can really gain more traction.

"It's an adjustment, for sure," Savoie said. "It's a privilege to play with guys at that level that can make a difference each time they're out there, and they affect the game in a way that I've never played with a player. They possess it and affect the game in all three zones. They're such threats that the other teams key on them so much, so just continuing to learn to play with them and get more comfortable in that role."

Overall, the St. Albert product is looking much more assured in his process of becoming a capable all-around contributor in the NHL for his hometown team, having been helped by the confidence he’s received from his teammates and coaches, who’ve helped him stay the course and follow the right path.

“I just have a lot of trust in my game to do the right thing,” Savoie said. “I think there's a lot of reassurance from the coaching staff and my teammates that you're doing the right things, and you’re just getting some bad bounces.”

“It's a big part of it, earning the trust of our coaching staff, and them having faith that I'm going to go out there and do the right job. I'm still building that relationship, so it's been really good so far, and I'm looking to build it even more.”

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said that Savoie went through the struggles you’d expect from a player trying to break into the League, thinking he needed to make changes on the fly to his game when the offence wasn’t there or if he didn’t feel like he was making an impact.

For the bench boss, Savoie has finally seen success in recent games with a trio of goals after sticking to his strengths and continuing to play a role when the offence wasn’t showing up, including on the penalty kill as one of Edmonton's main shorthanded options to jump over the boards.

“Whether it's a young guy or a veteran guy, [confidence] goes a long way,” he said. “Looking at Matt's situation, a young guy playing in the league, he probably might have some doubts about ‘Can I do this? Can I score?’ He’s done it everywhere else, but now that's going in, he feels better about his game and doesn't have to maybe force things and start questioning himself.

“You just want him playing his game, and I think when you contribute a bit offensively – whether it's assists or goals – you can just relax, and the game slows down for you.”

Savoie said that his role on the penalty kill has been critical to keeping his game impactful through offensive struggles and finding success in the NHL.

"It's a big part of my game," he said. "That's a big part of solidifying a role on this team and making sure you're getting your minutes every night. I think that's a big part of it, so continuing to be effective on the PK will be big for me."

This wasn’t the first time Savoie went through a tough stretch and became better for it.

During his first full year of pro with the Bakersfield Condors in 2024-25, his game really didn’t take off until mid-December, finishing the year with 15 goals and 27 assists in the last 44 games and concluding the campaign as Bakersfield’s second-highest scorer with 54 points (19 goals) in 66 games and an AHL All-Star.

When he was a WHL rookie with the Winnipeg Ice in 2019-20, Savoie didn’t score a goal in his first 22 games while contributing only seven assists, but his next two full years in junior saw him reach 35 goals and 90 points in each campaign to solidify his place as a top-10 pick (ninth overall) by the Buffalo Sabres at the 2022 NHL Draft.

After tasting pro hockey for the first time in 2023-24 where he made his NHL debut with Buffalo and played six AHL games in Rochester, Savoie returned to junior and was traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors, where he won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as League champion and made a Memorial Cup appearance with a combined 99 points (41G, 58A) in 57 games.

All of those experiences helped him know that things would eventually start going his way in Edmonton.

“I think it can be discouraging early in the year when you're not seeing the results, but having gone through it last year, and then obviously a few years ago in Winnipeg, it’s about just sticking with it,” Savoie said. “I think I have a good mentality to do that and not shy away from my game, and just keep doing the right things, and eventually they'll go in.”