3:33 PM: The Sabres organization have confirmed the trade with Edmonton.
3:08 PM: According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres are working on a trade that would send Ryan McLeod to the American Northeast. In a follow-up report, Friedman suggests the Oilers will receive forward prospect Matt Savoie from the Sabres and will additionally send Tyler Tullio to Buffalo.
The Sabres were intent on improving their middle six and bottom six this summer and will acquire McLeod as he enters the last year of a two-year, $4.2MM contract. Featuring breakneck speed and a high motor in the offensive zone, it will be difficult to find a better player than McLeod to plug into the Sabres bottom-six. During the past three years in south-central Alberta, McLeod has suited up in 209 games for the Oilers, scoring 32 goals and 74 points while averaging 13:43 of ice time per night.
Outside of the topical statistics, McLeod is an analytical dream. He has averaged a 52.7% CorsiFor% throughout his career which will give the Sabres a boost in the possession game after finishing the 2023-24 season with a 51.2% team average in the category. According to HockeyReference, McLeod has an E +/- of 20.3 throughout his career showing that he limits his opponent’s ability to score when he is on the ice. The Sabres improved considerably in this department last season, and McLeod will help continue that effort and be an effective penalty killer.
Tullio is also heading to the Sabres organization and will likely start the year with the team’s AHL affiliate Rochester Americans. The Oilers selected Tullio with the 126th overall selection of the 2020 NHL Draft and he has spent the last two years playing for the Bakersfield Condors. Tullio has scored 22 goals and 47 points over 117 games in AHL Bakersfield and should slot into a bottom-six role with the Americans.
Edmonton will not come away unhappy from this deal as they’ve acquired quite a prospect in Savoie. The young center is two years removed from being the ninth overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft and recently finished his playing days in the Western Hockey League. Savoie split the 2023-24 WHL season between the Wenatchee Wild and Moose Jaw Warriors in a season where he scored 30 goals and 71 points in only 34 games. Continuing to prove his offensive prowess in the playoffs, Savoie scored 10 goals and 24 points in 19 postseason contests for the Warriors as he led his team to the Memorial Cup semifinals.
Savoie eventually made his professional debut last season in AHL Rochester where he scored two goals and five points in six contests. One could reasonably assume that Savoie will start the 2024-25 NHL season with the Condors but could be a sneaky option to be called up and placed next to Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. Whatever his pathway is, the Oilers bring in a cost-effective option who can immediately play in the team’s top six.
Please kill me
This seems absolutely horrid for Buffalo
Any time a rebuilding team has a chance to trade a top 10 pick for a 3rd liner you do it
I don’t see any other way of running a franchise. Consequently I’m also not running a franchise.
@amk1920
Then buffalo got a steal then, because I thought you traded top 10 picks for the fringe 2 way player
What is Buffalo thinking with this trade.
Buffalo is showing exactly why they’ll never win a cup
Youngest team in hockey. Center prospects in Kulich, Ostlund & Helenius.
Savoie was expendable. Sabres get immediate help now. Centers for the 2024/25 season (after this trade)-
1C- Tage 2C- Cozens 3C- McLeod 4C- Lafferty
If that’s the best immediate help they can get for a recent top 10 pick… yikes.
Honestly, not a terrible move for Buffalo. Kinda surprised they did it this early, but Savoie’s not a guy whose game is going to translate at the NHL level.
It seems like EDM is adhering to the own team policy of keeping at least one Savoie brother in the organization, as, for the time being at least, they seem to have cut brother Carter loose with no QO. McLeod is a speedy guy, but his defense is hit or miss right now.
Drafting Helenius in this year’s draft definitely had a influence with this trade. Buffalo also has Noah Ostlund over in Europe developing. J. Kulich is also almost ready for a NHL opportunity. People like to complain about every move Buffalo makes but so far this offseason they……
Added 3 of the top 50 short burst skaters in the NHL last season that also had a combined 500 hits (all forwards) .
Added a Forward in Jason Zucker who had a decent amount of hits & is a 5 time 20+ goal scorer.
Jeff Skinner from February till the end of last season-
February- 2G 1A March- 5 goals (3 vs Seattle) 0 after 3-18.
We want trades.We can’t trade this guy.Why don’t we get any new players as the team we have isn’t doing it.I am having trouble keeping up with the fans opinions.Maybe they should have traded Cowens and put Savoie in his spot?
Savoie became expendable in Buffalo, and has better prospects ahead of him in the depth chart. “Top 10 pick, seriously?!” Yeah… But that doesn’t somehow make him a superstar.
And gathering what I’ve read on prospect sites, it seems Savoie is far from a guarantee to even make the NHL to begin with.
Framed with that context in mind, bereft of alarmism, this trade makes a lot more sense.
Then that says a lot about them taking him 9th overall just two years ago. Either it was considered a massive reach within industry circles at the time or their development plan for him was failing miserably.
Either way, it’s a bad look for Buffalo because it’s a terrible use of resources.
No prospect is ever a sure thing. I mean hell, Nail Yakupov was a #1 overall pick and he never made the NHL full-time.
The Sabres were one of the worse face off and penalty killing teams last year. We just made a move to improve both areas and we dealt from a large group of young prospects who can’t all possibly play for at the sane time for the Sabres. When you have a lot of prospects you have them for two reasons either improve the NHL team or trade them to make the NHL team better.
The Sabres want to make the playoffs this year.That is what fans want.Savoie was not taking them to the playoffs this year.
I have a hard time believing Savoie doesn’t have more value. My guess is Buffalo approached Edmonton,
Buffalo GM is a bumbling fool.
So he’s a fool for not making trades or making trades. Give this trade about 2 years to see where the 2 players are.
Even if Savoie goes bust, that doesn’t make this good asset management in the moment.
The Hockey Guy even mentioned the Sabres had about 6 similar sized prospect forwards. Rosen & Kulich are more NHL ready. Ostlund is probably more liked by the Sabres. Helenius already has a solid frame. Savoie was the most highly sought. McLeod fills a need now for the Sabres. Buffalo is now a better team because of the trade.
They’re a better team immediately, which means pretty much nothing because they aren’t Cup contenders for the duration of McLeod’s current contract. It’s not like they wouldn’t have had a chance at him when his contract expired and he reached free agency.