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Oilers Thoughts: Can Savoie or Howard spark the bottom-six?
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Tyler Yaremchuk
Sep 17, 2025, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 17, 2025, 15:57 EDT
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For most teams in the NHL, depth scoring means getting goals from your third or fourth lines. For the Edmonton Oilers, it can sometimes take on a different meaning, and it’s actually a little easier to quantify than it is with other teams: how the club performs with both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl off the ice.
In 2024-25, the Oilers did not get good results with their two superstar forwards off the ice. In 2,141 five-on-five minutes, the team was outscored 88-66. N
Now, despite the ugly GF%, there were some mildly encouraging signs.
As I mentioned in an article a few weeks ago, the Oilers did get a little unlucky. Their shooting percentage with 29 and 97 off the ice last year was just 6.94. Part of that is luck, but part of that is a result of not having a lot of truly skilled players lower in their lineup.
Their expected goals-for percentage (49%) was much better than their actual GF% (42%), and they did outshoot the opposition in this situation.
It wasn’t all bad, but the Oilers need better results this season.
Back in 2023-24, the Oilers did get better results with a GF% of 48% when McDavid and Draisaitl weren’t on the ice.
In 2022-23, it was actually very good, sitting at 55% as their depth players outscored the opposition 74-60. That season, their shooting percentage as a group was 8.41%, and they had 11 players hit the double-digit mark in goals.
Among that group were players like Mattias Janmark, Klim Kostin, and Derek Ryan, who played almost exclusively bottom-six minutes.
Last year, the Oilers had just nine forwards hit the double-digit mark in goals, and the only ones who did it without much of a boost from minutes with McDavid and Draisaitl were Adam Henrique, Connor Brown, and Jeff Skinner.
This season, there is a lot of talk about who could slot into the Oilers’ top six, but it’s just as important that they find players who can actually drive play in their bottom six.
Having one of Matt Savoie or Ike Howard click with one of the Oilers’ superstar centremen would be huge and would make me feel a lot more confident in the team’s chances of keeping their Stanley Cup window open for the next five-plus seasons.
One of those two finding chemistry with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who Jason Gregor thinks will spend more time at centre than on the wing this season, could create a strong third line that consistently outscored the opposition. That would arguably have a bigger impact on the Oilers’ success this season.
Savoie appears to be the more mature, well-rounded prospect at the moment, and I think he is a strong candidate to have success away from 97 and 29.
Knoblauch spoke about the Oilers’ two young roster hopefuls at his opening press conference.
“The most important part of it is finding out how ready they are for the NHL. They are players who have typically played with the best players, but it’s also difficult if they are put into that position where they are playing with our best players, they’re playing against other teams’ best players. That’s quite a load for a young player.”
It’s a good point from the Oilers’ bench boss. Playing with McDavid or Draisaitl means you get the other team’s top-pairing defencemen. It could make adapting to the NHL much tougher.
“We want to find out exactly where they are, how they’ll help our team, who they’ll complement, and what players will complement them the most. I don’t have a clear indication that they have to play with this role or somewhere else, I don’t see it that way,” Knoblauch added.
Eventually, this season, I do want to see both Howard and Savoie get extended looks in the Oilers’ top six, but there are multiple benefits to having one of them on the Oilers’ third line with Nugent-Hopkins.
While they would still be playing with a very good centreman, having them lower in the lineup could help ease them into their first full NHL season and could give the Oilers a strong, scoring third line, which is something they’ve been in search of for a few seasons now.
It’s not all on the kids, either.
Someone like Trent Frederic, who found ways to be a productive offensive player while playing bottom-six minutes in Boston, will be very important to the Oilers’ offensive success this year. In 2023-24, Frederic scored 18 goals with his most common linemates being Morgan Geekie and James van Riemsdyk.
The idea that he could find success with Nugent-Hopkins is not far-fetched.
There is also a wild card like David Tomášek, who was a very strong scorer during his career in Europe. Daily Faceoff prospect analyst Steven Ellis told me back when Tomasek signed that he thinks he could very easily hit the double-digit mark in goals in the NHL.
Strong seasons from Tomášek and Frederic, combined with contributions from one of the Oilers’ young players, could make this year’s bottom six one of the more impactful groups the Oilers have had over the last few seasons. There are some big ifs, but I’m willing to say there is potential with this group.

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