There are list debates, and then there’s the kind of omission that makes you stop and stare.
The Athletic’s latest 23-and-under ranking did exactly that for the Edmonton Oilers, because Matt Savoie - yes, that Matt Savoie - didn’t appear anywhere in Corey Pronman’s league-wide list of the top 156 NHLers and prospects under the age cutoff. Not in the top 50.
Not in the top 100. Not anywhere.
That’s the part that jumps off the page. Pronman’s list, published Wednesday, is for players who are 22 or younger as of Sept. 15, 2026, and he grades each player’s “toolkits.” The Oilers weren’t alone in the rankings, but Savoie being absent entirely was the headline surprise.
It’s not hard to see why this one landed so sharply. Savoie has been a big talking point around Edmonton this summer, especially with the ongoing debate over whether the Oilers should try to re-sign him early in the Mavrik Bourque to Connor McMichael range of $5.5-$6.75 million. The logic behind that idea is simple enough: he could spend most of the season on Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl’s wing, and the club could buy up future seasons before the cap keeps climbing.
There’s also plenty of room for skepticism. He’s small.
He didn’t contribute in the playoffs. What’s the hurry?
That pushback makes sense.
But no Oilers player at all in Pronman’s top 156? That’s where the whole thing starts to feel strange.
For context, Savoie was on this same list a year ago at No. 148, while Isaac Howard checked in at No. 163.
The list was larger then, but Savoie still had a place on it. This time, he vanished completely.
And it isn’t as if the ranking ignored players with thinner NHL résumés. Pronman included Reid Schaefer at No.
83, Theo Stockselius at No. 99 and Vadim Moroz at No. 156.
That’s why the Savoie omission feels so hard to square.
The counterargument is that prospects are not just about what they’ve done so far. They’re about projection, too, and Pronman is clearly weighing more than counting stats. Still, Savoie’s production compared with his draft peers makes the absence look even more jarring.
Among players from the 2022 NHL Draft, Savoie is 13th in points. That group is led by names such as Juraj Slafkovsky, Logan Cooley, Cutter Gauthier and Lane Hutson. Even so, 15 players from that draft are on Pronman’s list ahead of him despite having fewer NHL points:
Conor Geekie (63), Jiri Kulich (64), Lian Bichsel (77), Rutger McGroarty (80), Jani Nyman (82), Reid Schaefer (83), Noah Ostlund (91), Filip Bystedt (103), Ryan Greene (104), Tristan Luneau (112), Sam Rinzel (118), Maveric Lamoureux (122), Sandis Vilmanis (133), Danila Yurov (151) and Ivan Miroshnichenko (155).
Of course, points only tell part of the story. Savoie’s appeal has always gone beyond the box score, and his value comes from the full package. He’s shown he can help as a penalty-killer, and he’s not being sold as a future high-end point machine anyway.
That’s what makes the snub feel even stranger.
And if there’s any comfort for Oilers fans, they’re not the only ones with a grievance. Buffalo’s Zach Benson fell from 93 to 124 despite what was described as his best NHL season so far and a useful playoff run.
Jiri Kulich climbed almost 30 spots even though he nearly missed the entire season because of a blood clot. Pavel Mintyukov, who just signed a five-year, $36 million extension, sits at 154th.
And Gavin McKenna, the first overall pick in this year’s draft, is ranked fourth among 2026 draft picks, behind Chase Reid, Albert Smits and Keaton Verhoeff.
So yes, it’s just another list. But it’s also the kind of list that practically begs for arguments, and this one delivered plenty of them.
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