The recent surgence of Edmonton Oilers top rookie, forward Matt Savoie should come as no surprise to anybody. Now that he has finally been given an opportunity inside the top-six on a consistent basis, he is scoring and generating offence at an impressive clip.
Since the Olympic break, the Oilers 22 year old rookie has been on an absolute heater, scoring two goals and eight assists for 10 points in 12 games. Only three players on the Oilers have scored more; Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard.
It is safe to say that Matt Savoie has finally arrived.
Matt Savoie's late season surge
On top of being the fourth highest scoring Oiler, he ranks fourth amongst forwards in time on ice throughout that time as well. This is something that is likely a direct and partial cause for his uptick in production, given he is seeing more ice time and is also sharing the ice with some of the Oilers -- and the NHL's -- very best.
Before the Olympic break, according to naturalstattrick.com, Savoie and McDavid shared the ice for 133 minutes at 5-on-5 through 58 games. Over the past 12, they have played 57 minutes together, showing a major increase in ice time together per game.
As a result, you also see that both players have been able to positively impact each other, driving play at an eite level. Together, they have a roughly 55% corsi for and fenwick for percentage, a nearly 67% goals for and 60% expected goals for percentage.
They have been on fire and on the bright side, this level of play from Savoie does seem relatively sustainable. His PDO (a decent measuring stick of luck, combining a player or team's on-ice shooting and save percentages). Savoie's sits at 101.97 according to evolving-hockey.com and represents a relatively modest lucky streak.
Of course, it is unlikely that he produces at a 68 point pace, which he has been since the Olympics but it seems plausible that he can still produce at a much higher rate than how he had been earlier this season. His increase in play comes at the right time as the Oilers need an offensive boost down the stretch after they neglected it at the trade deadline.
Savoie is realizing his true potential
Although Savoie is very deserving of his flowers, there is a level of praise that is owed to head coach Kris Knoblauch. Over the Olympic break, there was plenty of questions surrounding his job and whether or not he was on the hot seat with his job seriously at risk.
He came out of the break with a clear agenda and has executed it well. One of the main changes is that he is not solely relying on McDavid and his stars and Savoie is rewarding him for his faith. It was a clear risk that the Oilers could lose Savoie -- much like they did with Dylan Holloway -- if they continued to squander him and refuse to give him a shot.
They were at risk of making the same mistakes with this current crop of youth players much like they did before, resulting in them losing both Holloway and Philip Broberg to offersheets just two seasons ago. Now, Knoblauch just needs to figure out how to utilize Isaac Howard properly and he could be rewarded once again.