MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- Matthew Savoie is heading home.
The Buffalo Sabres traded the St. Albert, Alta. product to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday afternoon in exchange for forwards Ryan McLeod and Tyler Tullio.
Savoie, 20, was traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Western Hockey League trade deadline last season and proved to be the final piece of the puzzle as the Warriors went on to win the Western Hockey League championship.
Savoie had started the 2023-24 season with the Buffalo Sabres out of training camp, but a lingering injury saw him assigned to the Rochester Americans not long after. He played six games in the AHL, scoring twice and finishing with five points.
Savoie was then returned to the WHL’s Wenatchee Wild in November, where he looked like he hadn’t missed a step with 11 goals and 24 points in 11 games.
The trade deadline deal saw Savoie continue his two-point-a-game pace with the Warriors, putting up 19 goals and 47 points in 23 games, followed by another 10 goals and 24 points in 19 games as the Warriors went on their championship playoff run.
Savoie was the Sabres’ first round selection, ninth overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
McLeod, 24, had 12 goals and 30 points for the Oilers last season. He then added four goals in 24 playoff games for Edmonton, who lost to the Florida Panthers in seven games in the Stanley Cup Final.
The 40th overall pick by the Oilers in the 2018 Draft, McLeod has 32 goals and 75 points in 219 NHL games, and seven goals and 13 points in 56 career playoff games.
Tullio was selected in the fifth round, 126th overall, in the 2020 Draft by Edmonton. The 22-year-old forward had nine goals and 21 points for Bakersfield of the AHL last season. He has yet to make his NHL debut.
-- with files from NHL.com
