Edmonton Oilers: What To Expect From Howard and Savoie

Edmonton Oilers fans haven’t awaited rookie wingers since Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle. It fits into General Manager Stan Bowman’s offseason plan to ice a younger roster on opening night of this coming season. But what are the realistic expectations for Isaac Howard and Matt Savoie? How much of an impact do we believe they can make right away?

There’s more to having a good prospect pool than just how high your draft selections are, nobody understands that more than we do. It’s about who you use those draft picks on, the positional needs and how you develop them. This case is, I think, more interesting because Edmonton didn’t draft these two. They had to give up good pieces in deals in order to get them. Ryan McLeod was a speedy and serviceable center before being traded for Savoie. Sam O’Reilly was one of Edmonton’s top prospects before being traded for Howard. The Oilers have a lengthy history in wrecking the development of most players not taken in the first round, but also more than enough blunders in the first round. One reason for that is having young players succumb to a losing culture during the Decade of Darkness, and there wasn’t enough good veterans to take some of the workload off. The other reason is not putting them in positions where they could help contribute and succeed. If I list every single example, I’ll never finish writing this piece. But I should probably reference at least a few.

I never agreed with the decision to select Nail Yakupov, and the people in Oilers management at the time were forced by ownership to do so, despite needing to look more into addressing defense. However, though a 1st overall bust, I also concede that Yakupov may’ve sustained a longer NHL career, had another team won the 2012 Draft Lottery and given him consistent top 6 minutes. I had nothing against him as a person, he was just another offense first winger, and struggled to make his way in an organization that used to make individual point totals the be-all and end-all. He didn’t have the skillset to make linemates better, his production and value were solely dependent on who he had as linemates. This draft choice was a complete disregard of roster holes that they wasted their chance to improve, either through another choice of prospect or through a trade for immediate help.

Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway were barely keeping Ken Holland’s draft record as Oilers GM alive before they signed their offer sheets. Oilers fans spent five years on Twitter hating the Broberg pick, now look how solid he was in St. Louis this season with top 4 ice time. 29 points was also pretty good production for a defenseman under the age of 25. I hoped he’d change his mind about wanting to leave after the 2024 Playoffs, he got his chances midway into Round 3 and played respectable hockey. But when your team values Vincent Desharnais in a #7 role, and doesn’t even offer that to someone they selected 9th overall, you know it’s time to move on. I always dreamed he’d be Evan Bouchard’s future partner(sigh). Wouldn’t he’ve been a nice eventual replacement for Mattias Ekholm? Holloway scored 2 goals in Game 2 of Round 1 in that postseason while on the fourth line. He produced more as those Playoffs went on(with top 6 linemates, finally). He signed his offer sheet believing there’d never be more room for him on this team’s top 6, that was a totally fair reason in hindsight before this season was played out. To people who say the Oilers never have enough depth to help out their stars, let me ask you a rhetorical question. How many other teams would put Mattias Janmark on their top line instead of their top prospects or top free agent signings? Holloway was a 60+ point player for the Blues in 2024/2025, and is still listed as a second line winger on the Daily Faceoff website. If scoring forwards aren’t playing with other scoring forwards, they’re useless and are just taking up roster spots for nothing. Some people believe Edmonton should’ve drafted Trevor Zegras, Matt Boldy or Cole Caufield instead of Broberg in 2019. Knowing this franchise’s quirks, I can absolutely guarantee either of them would’ve gotten the same treatment. Caufield actually was getting that treatment in Montreal before the Canadiens hired Martin St. Louis as their head coach in 2022. Does anyone still think he shouldn’t play with Nick Suzuki?

It was considered a miracle in 2016 when the Columbus Blue Jackets passed up on Jesse Puljujarvi with the 4th overall pick. A two-way winger with size, but the language barrier and culture change were issues for the young Finn. There was a game in the 2018/2019 season against the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he used his body positioning to keep an opposing player away from the puck in the offensive zone before Leon Draisaitl scored. A play like that would normally put your name in a coach’s good books. Instead, Puljujarvi was a healthy scratch the next game. It’s nearly impossible for younger players to gain confidence if they’re not rewarded for good shifts and are put on shorter leashes than older players. Dave Tippett may’ve been the coach who cared the most about this player’s development, and he had a good start to the 2021/2022 season before injuries and COVID brought him down. He did a lot more positive things on the ice, but hardly ever found the back of the net. Before inevitably being traded out of Edmonton, he stated in a Finnish media interview that he should’ve had an easier time producing alongside Connor McDavid. But if you’re not with top players consistently, you can’t develop that offensive acumen.

Let’s go a little more back in time to the 2011 Boston Bruins, who won the Stanley Cup with a pair of rookies themselves. Brad Marchand had a modest regular season with 41 points, and was great in the Playoffs with 19 points. Tyler Seguin was picked 2nd overall the year before, after Boston made a blockbuster trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs that included a young Phil Kessel. He had 22 points in the regular season and 7 points in the Playoffs. While Seguin’s tenure with the Bruins didn’t last long, nor was it as productive as anticipated, his best game as a Bruin was a 4 point night in Game 2 of Round 3. Before he moved to Dallas, you’d almost think he was an Oilers prospect.

Do I expect Isaac Howard to be on Edmonton’s top line all the way from Game 1 to Game 82? No, I suspect he’ll start with third line minutes and eventually work his way higher in the lineup. Also take into account that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman were both invited to Team Canada’s Olympics orientation camp along with McDavid. I’m not saying those two will 100% make the cut, but their current team will count it as an audition to keep that familiar line together. Matt Savoie could be a top 6 regular sooner than Howard because he already has experience playing with Draisaitl last season. Savoie’s first, and so far, lone NHL point was registered with good work along the boards before passing the puck to 29 in the slot. It’s possible that Kris Knoblauch may slightly favor Savoie because he killed penalties in the AHL. I still expect room to be made as well for David Tomasek and Curtis Lazar, though much older, in some gameday lineups, because their center depth doesn’t have other right-handed options. But I have just one simple plea that I’ve already sort of hinted before asking. Don’t bother drafting, signing or trading for players if you won’t let them be themselves and play to their strengths. Last summer, all of us, myself included, prematurely deemed Jeff Jackson the greatest interim GM of all time after he signed Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson. Skinner was almost never in the top 6, and Arvidsson’s minutes decreased as last season went on. Neither even hit 30 points, and they wound up being a waste of $7M that could’ve been useful at the Trade Deadline.

I promise this’ll be the last paragraph, but I think you understand what my views are on this topic from everything else I’ve written. It’s inevitable for every up and comer to make an on ice mistake. That doesn’t mean they should be chastised all season long. Of course allow them to learn first and hold them accountable nicely. But also reward them and make them feel confident that are good enough to play with the big boys. Hall and Eberle had 60, 70, and 80 point seasons in the pre-McDrai era without an elite center. 40-50 point campaigns from both Howard and Savoie alongside McDrai shouldn’t be totally out of the question. I’d actually like to see Nugent-Hopkins moved down to the second powerplay unit and the two rookies can get PP minutes with him. Having Noah Philp make the team as a fourth line center option, making that three rookies, might be a lot to ask right now. But that’s how you help keep a window for Stanley Cup contention open longer, you have to trust your youth. Please don’t mess up these two, don’t add them to the list of Oilers prospect casualties. If they also won’t be used the right way, I never again want to hear about prospects and draft picks.