Sabres trade Matt Savoie to Oilers for Ryan McLeod and Tullio

The general manager added fourth-line winger Beck Malenstyn to give Lindy Ruff the physicality the new coach wanted. Then the Sabres spent $10.2 million in free agency on forwards Jason Zucker, Sam Lafferty and Nicolas Aube-Kubel, as well as defenseman Dennis Gilbert.

As the dust settled Monday, Adams said he was happy with his roster but was still open to making a trade if the right player became available.

The Sabres found a matchup Friday and Adams made one of his biggest moves yet, trading top prospect Matthew Savoie to the Stanley Cup finalist Edmonton Oilers for center Ryan McLeod and right wing Tyler Tullio.

McLeod is just 24 and just finished his third full NHL season with the Oilers. He has four goals in 24 playoff games after totaling 12 goals and 30 points in 81 regular-season games. He has averaged about 14 minutes of ice time over the past two seasons, and his skillset is well-suited to the third-line center role Buffalo created by trading Casey Mittelstadt to Colorado.

The Sabres could also use McLeod at left wing in the top six if an injury occurs or if their other options, Zucker and Zach Benson, fit better elsewhere in the lineup. McLeod has the speed and skill to skate with elite players, which he did last season in Edmonton with Leon Draisaitl. According to NHL tracking data, McLeod’s top skating speed of 23.82 miles per hour ranked in the 99th percentile last season.

McLeod has one year left on his contract with a $2.1 million salary cap hit for 2024-24, but is set to be a restricted free agent after next season. He appeared in 56 playoff games and averaged 13:12 minutes of ice time in the Oilers’ last appearance. McLeod also has a Buffalo connection. His brother, Matt, played hockey at Canisius from 2015-19.

Tullio spent the last two seasons with the Oilers’ American Hockey League affiliate. The 5-foot-11 center scored 22 goals and 47 points in 117 games with the Bakersfield Oilers. He’s 22 and gives the club another right-shot winger in Rochester to skate alongside one of the Sabres’ prospects.

It’s a surprising move from the Sabres, who drafted Savoie with the ninth pick in the 2022 draft. The 20-year-old had 19 goals and 47 points in 23 regular-season games in the Western Hockey League before posting 24 points in 19 games during Moose Jaw’s run to the league championship and a Memorial Cup berth. He’s been hampered by minor injuries the past two seasons, including a knee sprain that caused him to miss the IIHF World Junior Championship.

Sabres scouts, development coaches and management love Savoie’s competitive nature, intensity and work ethic. Adam Mair, their director of development, had high praise for the 5-foot-10 forward this week at development camp.

The problem, though, is that it became clear that the quickest path to the NHL for Savoie was on the wing rather than at center. The Sabres drafted Finnish center Konsta Helenius with the 14th pick and their top prospect in Rochester, Jiri Kulich, could play that position in the NHL as early as this season.

It’s a trade that gives Savoie a chance to join a club that could be a Stanley Cup contender in the near future, and the Oilers are very familiar with Savoie through his older brother, Carter, who was a prospect for the organization. Savoie is also from the area and trains nearby each offseason.

The Sabres have enough NHL depth and prospects on the wing to finally use their draft stockpile to add a player to Ruff’s roster. They’ll have several talented wingers with the Amerks in the fall, including 2021 first-round pick Isak Rosen and 2023 second-rounder Anton Wahlberg. Kulich can also play wing, though Rochester assistant coach Vinny Prospal said the Czech forward might be better at center because he has more space to operate with the puck.

McLeod won 50.8 percent of his 718 faceoffs during the regular season, then 52 percent of his 148 attempts during the Oilers’ 24-game stretch to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. He’s a left-hander, like Mittelstadt, and has produced back-to-back double-digit goal seasons, 11 in 2022-23 and 12 in 2023-24.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Oilers shot 56.7 percent from the field and had 56.6 percent quality shots at 5-on-5 when McLeod was on the ice during the regular season. They also outshot their opponents 39-30, but he wasn’t used in a stopper role like Buffalo might choose to deploy him next season.

McLeod averaged the seventh-best power-play goals per 60 minutes among NHL players who played at least 100 minutes shorthanded, and he was not on the ice to score a power-play goal during the Oilers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final.

McLeod has an opportunity to play a bigger role in Buffalo. The Sabres were 32nd in faceoffs and needed another experienced pivot who could run the play. Adams has said repeatedly in recent weeks that he prioritized depth this summer to ensure Ruff has options. It’s important for a coach to be able to make mid-game lineup changes, especially on the road when the other team has a second change to determine matchups. The roster would have been too thin at pivot had Adams not made another move.

Sam Lafferty signed a two-year deal with the Sabres after completing 51.1 percent of his faceoffs in Chicago and Toronto two seasons ago, but his career numbers aren’t good enough at the position to be considered an upgrade. He could be needed at right wing to give Buffalo more speed and physicality on the third line, or Ruff could put Lafferty on a line with Peyton Krebs because they’re right-handed and left-handed, respectively.

Ruff can rotate Lafferty and Krebs to center the fourth line, while McLeod will man the third and Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson will bolster the top six. The group has three right-handers and two left-handers, which is another factor to consider at faceoffs.

The Sabres have added five forwards in the last six days, giving Ruff the following options: Thompson, Cozens, McLeod, Krebs, Lafferty, Zucker, Malenstyn, JJ Peterka, Alex Tuch, Jack Quinn and Jordan Greenway.

It’s unclear what’s next for Adams. The Sabres have about $14.7 million in cap space after acquiring McLeod and signing Jokiharju to a one-year deal Friday, according to CapFriendly.com. Malenstyn and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will need to be paid before their arbitration hearings as restricted free agents.

McLeod could be the last major addition of an offseason in which Adams acquired Jeff Skinner, overhauled the bottom six and tweaked the defensive depth by adding Gilbert. Adams and Ruff have promised a competitive training camp to prepare their players for their opener against the New Jersey Devils in the Czech Republic on Oct. 4.

While their season will be defined by how well their best players perform under Ruff, the Sabres need their trades and free-agent signings to have a meaningful impact in their respective roles.