Lightning’s Isaac Howard Returning To Michigan State
The Lightning will not be signing top prospect Isaac Howard now or this offseason. The 2022 first-round pick plans to return to Michigan State University for his senior season, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports, opening the door for his signing rights to expire in August 2026.
Howard, 21, is coming off an outright dominant junior showing with the Spartans. The 5’11”, 190-lb left winger erupted for 26-26–52 in 37 games, tied for third in the NCAA in goals and sitting alone in fifth place in overall scoring. Most expected him to sign with Tampa after Michigan State was bounced in the national tournament a couple of weeks ago as a result, but there wasn’t much progress. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic relayed that was related to Howard’s desire to join the team immediately and burn a year off his entry-level contract, something the Lightning didn’t and still don’t have the cap space to accommodate.
However those discussions transpired, it’s now clear Howard and the Lightning aren’t quite on the same page regarding his immediate future, Friedman wrote. That will lead to Michigan State unexpectedly keeping their top scorer in the fold next year while he decides whether he still wants to sign with the Bolts. While Tampa could technically lose his signing rights next August and receive a compensatory pick from the league, it’s likelier they’d trade his signing rights for a richer return before things get to that point if he informs the Lightning he won’t sign with them.
The Lightning can ill afford to lose Howard without acquiring a comparable young asset to replace him. He’s ranked as the No. 55 prospect in the league and No. 2 in Tampa’s pipeline behind center Conor Geekie, Wheeler wrote midseason. They’re the only two forwards in the Lightning’s system with legitimate top-six upside.
A top-three finalist for this year’s Hobey Baker Award, any Howard trade would follow a similar framework to last year’s swap of Rutger McGroarty and Brayden Yager between the Jets and Penguins. They’d be getting another team’s top or second-best wing prospect in return. While it’s certainly disappointing to see a divide pop up between Howard and the organization, there’s little reason to think Tampa couldn’t leverage him to acquire a similarly projectable talent.
Image courtesy of Nick King-Lansing State Journal.
Lack Of Cap Space An Impediment For Lightning And Isaac Howard
With more college teams starting to be eliminated, we’re seeing an influx of NHL prospects signing contracts. With Michigan State losing on Thursday, several of their prospects will be turning pro. While it’s expected that Lightning winger Isaac Howard will be one of them, his situation might take a little longer to resolve.
Scott Wheeler of The Athletic relays (Twitter links) that Howard’s desire is to burn a year of his entry-level deal right away and join Tampa Bay for the stretch run where he could play for them, including in the playoffs. However, that’s something they can’t afford to do. Per PuckPedia, the team has just $8,372 of cap space which obviously isn’t enough to fit Howard in. Even prorating by day, they’d likely only be able to sign him with two days left in the regular season. That’s still not for another roughly three weeks and it might be harder for the team to consider using him in the playoffs after sitting for so long.
Alternatively, the Lightning could push for Howard to go to AHL Syracuse. For that to happen, he’d have to sign an entry-level deal that begins next season (eliminating his NHL eligibility this season) or sign a tryout deal with the Crunch, play with them for a bit, and then sign an NHL deal with Tampa Bay beginning this year to be playoff-eligible. The latter route is rarely taken but there is a recent instance of a player doing that; Anaheim’s Sam Colangelo took that path last season.
Howard started his college career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2022-23 but went to Michigan State via the transfer portal the following year. He put up a point per game last season and found another gear offensively this year, tallying 26 goals and 26 assists in just 37 games, slotting him fifth in NCAA scoring while demonstrating he’s ready to make the jump to the pros. But with Tampa Bay’s cap situation, just how exactly he’s going to start his professional career remains in question.
USA Wins 2024 World Junior Championship
With their victory over Team Sweden this afternoon, Team USA has officially won the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, taking home the gold medal for the sixth time since the tournament’s inception in 1977. The game-winning goal would come in the second period, as Michigan State University product, Isaac Howard, put away the deciding marker relatively early on in the game.
Team USA will now move alone into third place in total gold medals in the tournament’s history after being tied with Finland with five since 2021. Team Russia/Soviet Union is in second place with eight gold medals, while Team Canada is in front by a large margin with a whopping 20 gold medals in the tournament’s history.
After leading Team Czechia in scoring in last year’s tournament, Buffalo Sabres’ prospect, Jiri Kulich, would lead the entire tournament this year, scoring six goals and 12 points in seven games. Tied in the lead with Kulich was Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect, Cutter Gauthier of Team USA, scoring two goals and 12 points in seven games.
Outside of Team USA bringing home the gold, and Team Sweden taking home the silver medal, Team Czechia would go on to defeat Team Finland in a high-scoring game this morning, winning their second bronze medal in tournament history. Now, the players from each respective country will return back to their regular teams, before the exciting tournament returns next year in Ottawa.
Snapshots: Gagner, Aubry, Blue Jackets, Howard
Free agent forward Sam Gagner is back on the ice rehabbing after undergoing double hip surgery late last season, relays Murat Ates of The Athletic (subscription link). The 33-year-old was injured at the end of February but had provided Winnipeg with a bit of depth scoring prior to that point as Gagner had eight goals and six assists in 48 games. Gagner already has more than 1,000 career NHL appearances under his belt and doesn’t appear to be ready to call it a career just yet. Considering the year he had and the recovery from injury, Gagner might have to settle for a training camp PTO in the coming weeks with the hopes of converting it to a full-fledged deal closer to the start of the season.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The University of Nebraska-Omaha announced that they have hired now-former Blackhawks development coach Peter Aubry as their associate coach. The 46-year-old spent the last eight seasons in Chicago’s organization, working with goaltenders at both the NHL and AHL levels. It won’t be Aubry’s first time behind the bench at the college level as he previously served as an assistant with both Mercyhurst and Lake Superior State.
- The Blue Jackets aren’t planning to replace former coach Kenny McCudden, notes Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link). McCudden spent the past eight seasons as a skills coach with Columbus but resigned earlier this month to join Washington as an assistant coach. Mike Babcock (head coach) and Niklas Backstrom (goalie coach) are the newcomers to their coaching staff, joining holdovers Pascal Vincent (associate coach) and Steve McCarthy (assistant coach).
- Lightning prospect Isaac Howard was one of the most prominent players in the NCAA transfer portal this offseason, moving from Minnesota-Duluth to Michigan State. Speaking with NHL.com’s Corey Long, the 2022 31st selection indicated that he wanted to go to a more offensive-oriented environment which he felt would be a better fit. Tampa Bay assistant GM Stacy Roest added that Howard didn’t consult with the team prior to the decision but that they’re hopeful that the Spartans will be a better fit for the 19-year-old after he put up just six goals and 11 assists last season.
Lightning Prospect Isaac Howard Transfers To Michigan State
Back at the draft, things were looking up for prospect Isaac Howard. He was coming off an impressive season with the US NTDP program where he put up 82 points in 60 games, helping him get picked 31st overall by Tampa Bay.
However, things haven’t gone as smoothly since then. The 18-year-old struggled considerably in his first taste of college hockey, notching just 17 points in 35 games with Minnesota-Duluth. Earlier this month, Howard opted to enter the transfer portal and he has found his next school, announcing (Twitter link) that he will be joining Michigan State next season.
Howard becomes the second drafted prospect to join the Spartans with Detroit forward Red Savage transferring there earlier this week. They are the only two drafted forwards on the roster at the moment so there should be an opportunity for Howard to play an important role with his new school although Michigan State could bring back their top three scorers from this season for 2023-24 as well.
Notes: Lindgren, Klingberg, Howard
Mollie Walker of the New York Post reports New York Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren will not play this evening. She added that this is the same injury the top-pairing defenseman was dealing with previously and he tweaked it in his return on Tuesday night. Lindgren had previously missed four weeks of action with what has been termed an upper-body injury. He returned to face the Carolina Hurricanes two nights ago and briefly left before returning to finish the game. The Rangers appear to be taking a cautious approach and don’t want a key piece of their blue line to make things worse with the playoffs on the horizon.
The Rangers have 11 regular season games remaining before the postseason, but appear locked into the third seed in the Metropolitan Division. They are six points back of the New Jersey Devils for second in the division, but hold a ten point advantage on the New York Islanders who are in the top wildcard spot.
- John Klingberg of the Minnesota Wild will also miss tonight’s game, according to a team release. Klingberg, an offensive defenseman, has four points in nine games since being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks at the trade deadline for Nikita Nesterenko, Andrej Sustr and a fourth-round draft pick. The team says it is an upper-body injury but there are not other details about the severity of the injury.
- Chris Peters of Flo Hockey reports Isaac Howard is entering NCAA’s transfer portal. This will pave his departure from the University of Minnesota-Duluth after one season. Howard was a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022 and had six goals and 17 points in 35 games as a freshman. Peters also mentions this could lead him to reuniting with former coach Adam Nightingale who is behind the bench of Michigan State, but nothing is official yet.