When prospects are on the cusp of NHL games, often the management of those teams will resist bringing the player up until he makes it virtually impossible to ignore.

The phrase “kicking down the door” is often thrown around. The idea is that the player is playing so well at the AHL level that he needs to be seen in the NHL to see whether his play can translate to the NHL and do so at a level that helps the NHL team win. Oilers fans have not seen many of these situations in the last few years.

Instead of allowing a player to percolate in the AHL hockey until he had kicked down the door, the Oilers history has been to yo-yo players up and down between the AHL and the NHL making these decisions based on other reasons. When this season started, Jeff Jackson made it clear there would be a new development strategy for Oilers prospects as he was quite critical of the prior development process.

So when Matthew Savoie was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres, the Oilers faced their first test of this new strategy. He was properly sent to the AHL to start the season, given all the minutes he can handle and in every situation including on the penalty kill. His start was slow, which can be expected from smaller, offensively gifted forwards as learning how to play against bigger, faster competition takes time and learning to play quality defensive hockey takes time.

As the season progressed, the game started to click for Savoie. Whether it’s been at right wing, his likely NHL position, or his time at centre when injuries hit, Savoie showed a very mature defensive game at both even strength and on the penalty kill. This was a great sign. The only nagging question was whether the offence would come.

See, in his first 18 games, Savoie only had ten points. Now most of that was at 5v5 which made it somewhat encouraging given this is the game state players need to succeed at the most. However, the point-per-game total was still low for someone with his offensive gifts. Well, that all changed when the calendar rolled over to December as Savoie started to score, racking up 14 points in ten games that includes 12 points in his last six games.

So as we enter 2025, Matthew Savoie is on the porch of Rogers Place staring at the door. More on Savoie, his teammate Noah Philp and all the news and notes in this week’s Oilers Prospect Report.

There is not a lot of nuance to Savoie’s game right now. That may sound like an insult, but it is not. What I mean is Savoie is playing at a level so good that his play is very easy to assess. Even I can do that.

In the Condors’ only game this week, Savoie had one goal and two assists with five shots on goal. This part to me is the most encouraging sign for Savoie. When he gets his shot off more, he and his linemates score. In those ten games since December 1, Savoie is averaging 2.6 shots per game. That is an increase by more than one shot per game from the start of his professional career. In those six games where he has 12 points, he is averaging over three shots per game. To get his shot off, Savoie uses his speed, but more importantly, his constant motion off the puck to find quiet spaces. Watch this clip from this week. Notice how he never stops moving.

Here is another great clip that led to an assist this time. Just watch the confidence Savoie is playing with right now. You can see it in his puck skills. Watch him open his hips then heel kick down the wall creating a seam for his teammate, Lane Pederson.

This is such a sublime play by Savoie. It’s a very high-skill one, where he is literally skating laterally trying to open up passing lanes. He does that very successfully.

The only downside to Savoie’s game this week was the fact he played just one game. Right now, I bet Savoie wants to play a lot, and certainly, Oiler management would agree. There is a scratching at the door of Rogers Place. It might get a lot louder in the coming weeks.

For all the great plays by Savoie, he might not be the first Condor dressed in Oilers colours in 2025, as Noah Philp might get those honours. Now let’s be clear, this does not have anything to do with Savoie’s play being inferior to Philp. Indeed, of the two, Savoie has been the best player, however, Philp has also been very good recently.

After some indifferent play that might have been related to the fatigue of playing after taking a year off, Philp has put together three excellent games since the Christmas break. Philp went 1-1—2 in the one game he played this week and it was a similarly good game to Savoie. What makes Philp so intriguing is he is a 6’3″, 200-pound right-shot centre — something the Oilers could certainly use in their bottom six. His offence will probably be limited at the next level, but that doesn’t mean it will be non-existent. Watch him run this 2v1 against Henderson this week.

You can also envision him scoring the occasional goal in the NHL using his size and his underappreciated puck skills. Here is an entirely projectible play to the NHL.

However, it is his 200-foot game with an emphasis on transitioning pucks that might make him the first call-up. Especially, when you envision where he might fit on the Oilers’ bottom six.

Now to be clear, it does not mean Philp will be a better NHL player than Savoie. It is simply that Noah Philp has a clearer path to an NHL role with the Edmonton Oilers at the moment. Now it is up to Philp to take his play to the next level like Matthew Savoie has done and make it hard for Oilers management to ignore.

When three of his forward teammates went off to the World Juniors, Sam O’Reilly had one job as a prospect of the Edmonton Oilers: take advantage of the increased role. O’Reilly has done that no question. In those nine games since those players left, O’Reilly has 15 points. This week he really put his stamp on the London Knights going 3-5—8 in four games and was a tidy plus-six. Most importantly, he averaged four shots per goal. Some of his point totals were on the power play like this goal.

However, that doesn’t take away from his play. Watch this assist on the power play. Both his puck skills and wall work are very encouraging.

That’s confident play has seeped into his 5v5 game as well. Watch this patient play on a 2v1.

For O’Reilly the question now is what happens with his teammates’ return. Much like the theme of this post, O’Reilly needs to make it very hard on his coaches to give him less ice time. That process will start this coming week.

Another benefactor of the World Juniors has been Dalyn Wakely. Wakely has been seeing all of the high-leverage minutes in Barrie. This week in three games, Wakely went 3-3-6 and had 15 shots on net. He is up to 34 points in 28 games which is a 1.21 points per game average. He is still behind last year’s 1.58 points per game but is improving each week.

Beau Akey and Paul Fischer have both played less than they likely expected at the World Juniors. Akey was the seventh defenceman for the Canadian team through the entire tourney, seeing only spot duty on a third-pairing rotation. His tournament is over. Fischer played early, but his defensive play was erratic and the coach has sat him the last three games.

William Nicholl suffered a minor injury and missed the first two games coming out of the Christmas break. He has since played two games and registered one point. His breakout season continues.

That’s it for the Oilers Prospect Report this week. Have a great week everyone. See you around the rink.