Edmonton Oilers trade Ryan McLeod, Tyler Tullio to Buffalo for Matt Savoie

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Looks like Ryan McLeod got caught up in a numbers game.

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Edmonton Oilers trade Ryan McLeod, Tyler Tullio to Buffalo for Matt Savoie Back to video

Two numbers games, actually.

That’s why the 24-year-old winger has been dealt to the Buffalo Sabres, along with minor league prospect Ty Tullio, in exchange for 2022 ninth overall draft pick Matt Savoie.

First of all, the Edmonton Oilers needed to cut salary in the wake of their July 1 signing spree. They landed unrestricted free agents Jeff Skinner, Viktor Arvidsson and Josh Brown and re-signed Mattias Janmark, Adam Henrique, Connor Brown, Corey Perry and Troy Stecher for a total of $15.25 million.

It put Edmonton $2.5 million over the cap, so they had to cut somewhere. With McLeod in the final year of a contract that pays him $2.1 million, he was one of the obvious moves.

That’s where the other numbers game comes in.

The Oilers have room for nine top nine forwards and he isn’t one of them.

With Arvidsson and Skinner added to the mix and emergence of Henrique, Janmark and Brown as a difference-making third line in the playoffs, McLeod became expendable.

McLeod brings assets to the table. He’s good at transporting the puck and entering the offensive zone and is responsible defensively, but he seems to have topped out offensively at 10-12 goals a year and will never be the physical, tenacious presence you want from a 10-goal scorer in your bottom six.

Savoie, 20, is a right shot centre from St. Albert who spent last year in the Western Hockey League, splitting his time between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Wenatchee Wild, picking up 71 points in 34 games.

He also had five points in six games in the AHL last year.

Tullio, 22, was taken in the fifth round of the 2020 draft by the Oilers, but has yet to play an NHL game. The right winger had nine goals and 21 points in 54 games in Bakersfield last year.

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