EDMONTON — As a contending team that has dealt away draft picks for years, any young and possibly impactful players the Edmonton Oilers have are indeed precious.

Enter Ike Howard and Matt Savoie, a pair of 21-year-old wingers who have arrived at the same intersection at precisely the same time — yet took completely different routes to get here.

Today, the top two forward prospects in the Oilers organization are rooming together at rookie camp: Savoie, the St. Albert-born veteran of the Western Hockey League collected from Buffalo in the Ryan McLeod trade; Howard, the confident American who forced his way out of Tampa when his camp refused to start his professional career at AHL Syracuse.

Howard knows that’s not a great look, and did not hesitate when asked if he’d report to Bakersfield

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