Why Matthew Savoie’s 2026 Oilers season was severely underrated

Kris Knoblauch had a tough 2026 campaign with the Edmonton Oilers, which turned out to be his last. While much went wrong, he still managed to help the organization significantly in one aspect — developing Matthew Savoie. 

The message during the 2025 offseason was that Edmonton wanted to get younger.

They had fortunately acquired Savoie the previous season and had deployed him for a full season in Bakersfield. He earned four games after the Four Nations break in the 2024-25 season and impressed fans during his short stint. While he shone, the rest of the team was terrible, losing five of six games after the tournament, and the environment wasn’t what a young forward like him needed.

Therefore, Savoie was sent back south but left everyone in Edmonton optimistic.

Rookie forwards don’t typically trend well in Edmonton. They’re usually in and out of the lineup, and the debate locally rages on if they belong in the NHL. Injuries obviously play a factor too, as they did for Connor McDavid, Dylan Holloway, and Taylor Hall. That never became the case for Savoie. He survived all 82 games, becoming only the second Oilers rookie to play that many since Andrew Cogliano in 2008.

Not only did he play 82 games, but he contributed as no other rookie had before.

Savoie became a mainstay on Edmonton’s penalty kill, logging the most time of any Oiler forward. His 132 minutes shorthanded last season are the most for an Oilers rookie going back to the 2005 lockout. In fact, no rookie forward has surpassed 100 minutes on the kill, with only Anton Lander coming close with 90 minutes. Ryan Greene of the Chicago Blackhawks was the only other rookie forward to play more minutes shorthanded than Savoie, according to Natural Stat Trick. 

The only other rookies near Savoie’s SH ice time didn’t contribute nearly as much offensively. That’s the notable difference. Savoie played multiple roles for Edmonton, while the others were slotted there to give them something to do. Ryan McLeod is the only one who had offensive touch while contributing, and Savoie still played 50 more minutes. 

Oilers rookie leaders in shorthanded minutes post-lockout

Thirty-seven points in 82 games for Savoie, with the bulk of them coming after the Olympic break in February. You couldn’t take him away from Connor McDavid with how hot the two of them were and it makes you wonder whether he can eventually push Zach Hyman aside and become the next great linemate for the Oilers captain. 

Calder trophy vote snub

With how Savoie’s regular season ended, it now shows how underrated his campaign was. A key contributor on the Oilers penalty kill while scoring the most points by a rookie since McDavid in 2016. Yet, he didn’t receive one Calder Trophy vote. 

He was never going to win the award, Matthew Schaefer had that locked up in November, but he deserved to be recognized. Ivan Demidov and Beckett Sennecke made sense as finalists, but no votes at all for Savoie? 

Instead, the PHWA opted to lend support to Fraser Minten, Oliver Kapanen, and Justin Sourdif. Savoie had equal, if not better stats, than those players yet he wasn’t recognized. Maybe that’s the Oilers way now, getting snubbed for awards.

Knoblauch’s last act

The 2026 season was a struggle and the players and coaching staff contributed to what was an overall underwhelming experience. However, the deployment of Savoie left the Oilers with a promising player that could legitimately be a two-way star for them one day. 

If you’re a fan of prospects, you’ll remember that heading into major junior, Savoie was considered a prodigy heading towards superstardom in the NHL. Granted, it seems unlikely he’ll ever reach that level. However, he’s now a real NHL player who is smart enough to play alongside either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl and let his talent shine.

Shoutout to Knoblauch for finally helping the Oilers develop a top-six contributing player.