Oilers Trade McLeod, Tullio to Sabres for Savoie, 14 Players Elect for Salary Arbitration

Just finding out about the Savoie trade now…. 😩 this hurts

A couple thoughts I have on this trade: 1) Matt Savoie is definitely trending downwards after a really underwhelming World Juniors and a disappointing performance with Moose Jaw in the WHL playoffs and Mem Cup, PLUS the Sabres have Zach Benson who is a better version of Savoie. So I don’t think it’s a massive loss for Buffalo. 2) HOWEVER, I still believe this was a bad trade by Kevyn Adams due to the fact Savoie was a top ten draft pick and is quite highly regarded in many circles with the dynamic skillset and name recognition he carries. Honestly, I was pretty sure Savoie would eventually be the odd man out among Sabres prospects, but I don’t think there’s any question he could have received a lot more than what he eventually got back for him. Strange trade, no doubt.

After all the dust settles, we will see that sabres won this pic. People are shitting on sabres , but I think they are building a powerhouse team for the near future.

I think Mclouds production will go down for sure. He had 4 goals in playoffs cause McDavid and Drasitil got all the attention. No good leadership for Mcloud

To bad Seattle couldn't be the
SEATTLE CRUISERS
Way cool
not krakheads
That's what everybody calls Seattle the crackheads

maybe for arbitration have player and team each submit written arguments, with supporting video if necessary, so not so ugly?

That's why the Oilers didn't win the cup

What’s even worse than the trade itself is that 80% of my fellow Sabres fans love this trade and our hailing Mcleod as the new savior in Buffalo. A total embarrassment.

Mcleod is a checker. You can get a checker without giving up a former 9th overall .It's the potential you are giving up.
Jason Zucker is fast?
Buffalo is scaring me.

Savoie is from Alberta and most likely requested a trade to Edmonton. A players value depreciates when he only wants to be traded to one team. Maybe he was feeling homesick?

i swear to god if people keep on saying "oh but he's small" im going to explode.

Guys relax, best case scenario. Real life isn’t NHL24. Worst case scenario, nothing new for Barfalo. 😂😂😂

No idea why sabres fans are upset. There was no room in buffalo for him. There are 4 or 5 forwards a head of him on the depth chart. They had to do something with him. And he is happy went from a team he had no chance to make in the next 2 years to the #1 prospect on a nother team

What is going on with my team? Was there a hostile takeover by Edmonton and we have to do what they ask us every time they call?

Skinner and Savoie will win a cup with Edmonton next year

The "cap-space" gets a bit burried in this analysis (of the McLeod-savoie deal):

The fact of the matter is: someone had to make room!
Oilers still haven't signed their RFAs, namely Holloway and Broberg (and Lavoie, but that does not seem of any concern);

Meanwhile, they are over the cap, and even if Kane should go on LTIR to start the season (as is being rumored!), the soace to sign these two is probably too thin.

Also: McLeid would be a 2.1m AAV 4th liner for them. He was the most natural choice to be on his way out.

Even now, they are still over the cao.
My guess is: they are not done dealing!
Best choice would now be Ceci.
Broberg seems to be a good fit to stabilize Nurse, and Cody would thus be a 3.25 AAV 3rd pairing guy.
Too rich!
And they just signed two righties during free agency: Stecher (who was on their team since the trade deadline, but mostly out due to injury) & Joshua Brown!

Fun fact:
The oilers now have two Skinners (not related), two browns (neither), and the second Savoie; his brother, whom they drafted, wasn't given a QO though... Maybe they don't like having brothers?

It was rumored, that McLeods brother, Michael, was discussed as a 4th line option in the past, but they never pursued him. And he is a UFA atm.
... but they did have Matt McLeod on the Condors, in the past, for 3 meager games....

Gonna have to get a Savoie jersey now

I will say this: Between a 2nd for Beck Malenstyne and Savoie for Macleod...for the first time in at least 5 seasons the NHL roster has become a priority over the AHL roster.

We finally made it to the show!

Congrats on 323k!

Arbitration is typically for teams that have cap space as well. Players that know the team has no space don’t typically go to arbitration

Gonna be hilarious if Buffalo has to pay a ridiculous salary for Malenstyn after trading a 2nd for him only to lose him next year

pain.

Ryan Lindgren is my favorite defensive player on my Rangers

I feel like the Sabres could have gotten a greater return for MacLeod, but I’m honestly not super against this trade.

I wonder if it would have been smart for someone to offer sheet UPL. He is propably asking for over 4.5mil which means you would have had to give up 1st and a 3rd. In the end that might have just been to annoy the Sabres though since I think they would just accept.

Benson made Savoie expendable. Along with 5 other 1st round prospects in the Sabres system.

Lol besides Lindgren, Marchenko, Moser(?), Necas and UPL, what business do the rest of the arb guys have going for arb? They're mostly depth

Massive win for the Oilers. Either we get another Yam fry or we get a top 6 elite player. Worst case we get to keep Kane or get a player with a similar cap hit.

I absolutely hate seeing McLeod go, but I can't complain about the trade either unless Savoie is a surprise-bust because in the meantime Henrique will fill McLeod's role and Savoie could be a great winger by the time Arvidsson's two-year contract is done.

I'm an oilers fan and the first thing that went through my head when the trade was announced was why is Buffalo giving this guy up for so little? Do they know something that we don't?

So basically the Oilers have gone from almost no right shots to fill with every right shots. Arvidsson right, Brown (and Brown) right, Savoie right...renewed: Perry right, Stecher right.

Sabres needed 3rd line center. They have ton of top end forward prospects. May have traded high but sabres know what theyre getting. Maybe savoie is next cole caufield. Or next kailer yamamoto. Who knows. Sabres aint been to playoffs in 13 yrs. Need nhl players right now. The high end prospects will eventually get their shot here or somewhere else.

All the criticism of Buffalo on this trade comes from fans who don’t seem to consider the fact that the Buffalo organization has seen a hell of a lot more of Savoie than any fan has and have decided that he’s not such-a-much. They could be wrong, but a 9th overall pick is never a sure thing. Maybe the mistake was made two years ago when the pick was made and they’re just trying to get something back. Remember Griffin Reinhardt.

Greatest trade ever ahhhhhhhhh

Maybe this is all part of a larger deal for Mitch Marner?? Buffalo still has $13 million in salary cap to spend & not many teams have cap space to sign a Marner deal. Toronto is going to want some NHL ready players included in any Marner trade. Maybe McLoud is just one piece of what it takes to bring Mitch Marner to Buffalo.

I am more worried about UPL being scared away, just pay the man!

Jeff Jackson might also trade Darnell Nurse 1 for 1...

While I do think Oilers won this trade, I think Mcleod will play better in Buffalo. There's just an insane amount of pressure to produce in Edmonton right now for young players. You need to be able to make mistakes to develop and the costs to do so in Edmonton make young players risk averse. Mcloed has good skills, but he often defaulted to playing it safe because the stakes are too high and Edmonton has no defence in its bottom pairings. 

Imagine bering a 3C and you know if you don't make the play Ceci's got your back 

ahaha

McLeod trade was more of a salary dump but Savoie could be a better player down the road.

Sabres have to pretend they are getting a 3rd line center. Thing is... McLoud permanently lost his 3rd line spot on the Oilers. They finally came up with an excellent 3rd line & McLoud wasn’t on it! This new line was the best & most consistent line in the playoffs so the Oilers quickly resigned all of them.

When McLoud was the 3rd line center the Oilers couldn’t make it past 2 rounds in the playoffs because the 3rd line always suxed. Then without McLoud on the 3rd line we make it to the finals. Go figure!!

If anything, I think Buffalo should've also received a 2nd round pick

Quite evidently and predictably, a lot of Sabres "fans" are dissing the trade of Savoie to Edmonton for (primarily) McLeod. Apparently these same "fans" of the Sabres seem to forget that there are a ton of good to very good NHL players (you know, the ones these "fans" want Buffalo to always get, especially for some Sabres player or players these same "fans" think are terrible and in need of peddling) who wouldn't accept a trade to Buffalo even if it meant the Brinks truck would be making regularly scheduled huge deliveries to their bank of choice. The term "No Trade Clause" seems to be lost on these "fans" since Buffalo isn't exactly a destination of choice for more much worthier players hoping to be signed by a team with Stanley Cup trophy aspirations vs. one that hasn't been to the playoffs in 13 seasons and hoping that number doesn't become 14 by the time April 2025 rolls around. It's pretty comical to see what these "fans" write if only because they show their ignorance for the very game, and team, they profess to be fans of.

What confuses me is the timeline on Savoie when the Oilers window is right now like this year specifically.

Obviously the future is still a thing but Savoie just doesn’t fit the window the Oilers are otherwise all in on

Clearly there’s a problem in Buffalo. Why so many arbitration cases for the Sabres?? Why trade a prospect for a salary dump player?? Was it really necessary to buy out Skinner?? Everything points to money issues. Dumping assets & shaving costs like a company does when they have serious financial problems. Something is definitely wrong here.

Surprised at first glance, but Savoie was replaceable (too many Sabres prospects w/ his size and skill-set) and McLeod’s analytics suggests he’s exactly what Buffalo badly needs, especially on draws (no Sabre was better than 48% last season) and we all knew a prospect had to be dealt.

Pssssssst! Spedmonton just lost the cup to Florida and is very unlikely to make it back….

Perhaps a trade will be fruitful for McLeod. Like you said, he's likely to get more time on ice with Buffalo. Jeff Jackson sure is putting on a GM clinic for not wanting to be a GM.

I have no problem with the Sabres trading Savoie. The Sabres need to make the playoffs next season. Savoie at 20 y/o is not going to be the difference in them getting there at his age, especially with his lack of experience at both the AHL and NHL levels. Plus, he's a little guy who seems to be injury prone. He's already undergone 1 major shoulder surgery due to an injury incurred during his 2021-22 season in the WHL and suffered another injury to the same shoulder on September 18, 2023, during a 4-team Prospects Challenge tournament in Buffalo, which caused him to miss all of Sabres training camp for the 2023-24 season. He was out for a just over a month until playing his first AHL game for Rochester on October 25 as part of a 6-game conditioning stint. He then missed a game in the 2024 World Junior Championships in December 2023 with an MCL injury and also missed time late in the WHL 2023-24 regular season due to his shoulder.

Savoie wont make the team. If he does.. hell get crunched and broken