Prospect Info: 2022 31st Overall Pick | LW Isaac Howard

[Rschmitz]

This is really about asset management more than anything. Keep Howard happy and get him signed to avoid headaches down the road. Is it fair to others in the organization? No, but that’s just how the rules are set.

In my opinion, allowing Howard to dictate when he gets to play in the NHL is creating a lot more headaches down the road than it's avoiding. We sorta had a similar situation with Drouin, we didn't bow to his whims

 

[Felonious Python]

In my opinion, allowing Howard to dictate when he gets to play in the NHL is creating a lot more headaches down the road than it's avoiding. We sorta had a similar situation with Drouin, we didn't bow to his whims

The understanding should be that any promises of initial ice time are all that's being promised. Whatever is needed for an important regular season game, or the playoffs, is up to the coaches.

It's not about paying dues, exactly. Any player that's good enough gets to skip the lines, and all they're giving him is the opportunity to show that he deserves that.

IIRC, Drouin's parents also played a larger role than is typical.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

In my opinion, allowing Howard to dictate when he gets to play in the NHL is creating a lot more headaches down the road than it's avoiding. We sorta had a similar situation with Drouin, we didn't bow to his whims

I wouldn't compare it. Coop had a stick up his ass about Drouin. No coach in that kid's life ever asked him to be defensively responsible. I'm sure Drouin had a bad attitude about it. But it's no one else's fault but Cooper's that Drouin managed probably more games in Syracuse (17) that did nothing for his career than on wing with Stamkos. Drouin did exactly the same things defensively after he was unshackled from the bench and it was okay most times.

Howard is probably playing for Syracuse next year. But I don't understand us splitting hairs over 2 or 3 NHL games for the guy like it's some sort of entitlement. See what you got. If he's bad he will play in the minors. He sure as daylight isn't gonna put up .500 PPG joined at the hip to J.T Brown

 

[FinnLightning26]

Top 9 of this team looks very exciting for next year if Geekie continues his development and Howard makes the team.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

In my opinion, allowing Howard to dictate when he gets to play in the NHL is creating a lot more headaches down the road than it's avoiding. We sorta had a similar situation with Drouin, we didn't bow to his whims

I get it, but I feel the circumstances are a little bit different here. We don’t know how demanding Howard is in terms of when he plays in the NHL, the only thing we’ve heard is he wants to burn an ELC year. But I could imagine a case where he looks at Leonard and Perrault and isn’t thrilled about his situation.

His leverage is also a lot different than Drouin’s because he could become a free agent in 2026. I struggle mixing up the business side of things with entitlement, I think he’s well within his rights to negotiate the best deal for him under the CBA. I don’t love the way things work right now, but I also think Brisebois needs to operate with the cards he has.

 

[Rschmitz]

I get it, but I feel the circumstances are a little bit different here. We don’t know how demanding Howard is in terms of when he plays in the NHL, the only thing we’ve heard is he wants to burn an ELC year. But I could imagine a case where he looks at Leonard and Perrault and isn’t thrilled about his situation.

His leverage is also a lot different than Drouin’s because he could become a free agent in 2026. I struggle mixing up the business side of things with entitlement, I think he’s well within his rights to negotiate the best deal for him under the CBA. I don’t love the way things work right now, but I also think Brisebois needs to operate with the cards he has.

Yeah I mean 100% is speculation

 

[Sky04]

Its the narrative that people are pushing that not signing him is going to be something catastrophic for the organization. people think Howard is the second coming of Hagel or something.

Not from what I read? What you said about Geekie having his chance already. Well so did Goncalves. We sent him down multiple times over 2 years and he finally figured it out. Just because Geekie has his shot, doesn't mean he shouldn't come back up this year or playoffs.

It's weird when we agree.

Also why tf are people talking like Howard is some sort of top end cannot lose at all cost prospect here, is it just because our pool is that bad? If he's good enough he'll impress and make the team next year, or get a full season in the A to develop, why burn an ELC year when the team isn't is a spot to give him a prime opportunities anyways?

He's going to be fighting for Girgenson's spot on the 4th line or worse be playing WITH him at 6mins a night in the playoffs at best? That's what we want for him? The top-9 is locked, Cooper is definitely not going to shake it up weeks away from playoff time after the run we just had. You want an upgrade on Girgs? Or an x-factor on the 4th line? Call up Geekie who's put in the work at the pro level for year now so him or Goncalves who have games suited for the 4th line can slide down rather than a forcing a pure goal scorer to play with dump and chase, no offense hockey with Glendening/Girgs.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

I can't wait for this kid to light it up

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Howard should post the Squidward looking down Spongebob and Patrick meme on his IG, I would be frustrated if I was him.

 

[Sky04]

Howard should post the Squidward looking down Spongebob and Patrick meme on his IG, I would be frustrated if I was him.

Or he could act like a professional athlete IDK.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

Howard should post the Squidward looking down Spongebob and Patrick meme on his IG, I would be frustrated if I was him.

If he wants to in a private message to the team he can. It's endearing. But if he is taking it personally it's a huge red flag. I don't know if the NHL allows any sort of hazing but Howard's shit is gonna get thrown in the showers if he throws a fit after I text him "This locker room will be worth the wait. The men in this room will prove to you have the best management you will ever see regardless of what's happening"

You better believe Coop is seeing every message between Howard and the team right now. Hopefully it's gym workouts and "See ya soon boys! WOOOO!!"

 

[DistantThunderRep]

It's weird when we agree.

Also why tf are people talking like Howard is some sort of top end prospect cannot lose at all cost prospect here, is it just because our pool is that bad? If he's good enough he'll impress and make the team next year, or get a full season in the A to develop, why burn an ELC year when the team isn't is a spot to give him a prime opportunities anyways?

He's going to be fighting for Girgenson's spot on the 4th line or worse be playing WITH him at 6mins a night in the playoffs at best? That's what we want for him? The top-9 is locked, Cooper is definitely not going to shake it up weeks away from playoff time after the run we just had. You want an upgrade of Girgs? Call up Geekie who's put in the work at the pro level for year now and has a game that's more fit for the 4th line than a forcing a pure goal scorer to play with Glendening.

Another angel got their wings, bud.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

If he wants to in a private message to the team he can. It's endearing. But if he is taking it personally it's a huge red flag. I don't know if the NHL allows any sort of hazing but Howard's shit is gonna get thrown in the showers if he throws a fit after I text him "This locker room will be worth the wait. The men in this room will prove to you have the best management you will ever see regardless of what's happening"

You better believe Coop is seeing every message between Howard and the team right now. Hopefully it's gym workouts and "See ya soon boys! WOOOO!!"

It's just dumb that BriseBois had months to plan for this and he didn't make sure there was enough roster cap space to sign the top prospect in the organization to his ELC. Everyone knew what the scenario would be if he had a monster junior year (which he did), and BriseBois didn't plan for it.

 

[JTBF81]

It's just dumb that BriseBois had months to plan for this and he didn't make sure there was enough roster cap space to sign the top prospect in the organization to his ELC. Everyone knew what the scenario would be if he had a monster junior year (which he did), and BriseBois didn't plan for it.

Except he's not their top prospect, nor is he considered by most even a top 50 prospect, Brisebois isn't going to structure everything cap wise weeks or months in advance to appease one, and one very good year against college competition doesn't grant him automatic playing time. He has plenty of potential, and he'll likely get a game or maybe 2 at the very end, but he's simply not some unbelievably high end blue chip that gets a free pass into Tampa's line up. JBB had and has more important considerations in team construction than trying to make sure there was room for Howard at the very end of the year.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

Except he's not their top prospect, nor is he considered by most even a top 50 prospect, Brisebois isn't going to structure everything cap wise weeks or months in advance to appease one, and one very good year against college competition doesn't grant him automatic playing time. He has plenty of potential, and he'll likely get a game or maybe 2 at the very end, but he's simply not some unbelievably high end blue chip that gets a free pass into Tampa's line up. JBB had and has more important considerations in team construction than trying to make sure there was room for Howard at the very end of the year.

Another name for a prospect not considered in the top 50 that got into the nhl immediately without “deserving it” is Brayden point.

Also it is literally JBB’s job to do this.

 

[Sky04]

Another name for a prospect not considered in the top 50 that got into the nhl immediately without “deserving it” is Brayden point.

Who won his way onto the team by thoroughly outperforming at training camp..... so Howard can wait until next year and do what Point did, glad we agree. Excellent point there Guy.

 

[bov]

It's just dumb that BriseBois had months to plan for this and he didn't make sure there was enough roster cap space to sign the top prospect in the organization to his ELC. Everyone knew what the scenario would be if he had a monster junior year (which he did), and BriseBois didn't plan for it.

I'm sure BriseBois was fully aware of the possibilities.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

It's just dumb that BriseBois had months to plan for this and he didn't make sure there was enough roster cap space to sign the top prospect in the organization to his ELC. Everyone knew what the scenario would be if he had a monster junior year (which he did), and BriseBois didn't plan for it.

I'm not defending what happened to Howard but imagine not trading for Gourde and Bjorkstrand becuase you're worried about a prospect. We are waaayyy over thinking this

 

[JTBF81]

Another name for a prospect not considered in the top 50 that got into the nhl immediately without “deserving it” is Brayden point.

Also it is literally JBB’s job to do this.

It's JBB's job to construct the best team possible, and making moves throughout the year in an already cap strained situation take priority. Howard can wait. I doubt very much he'll ever be half the player Point is, and I'm pretty sure Point got the opportunity because of injuries, the fact that the team maybe wasn't as deep at C, and because he still went through a camp and preseason to show the coaches something to be in the lineup. Even if not, circumstances are different now, as the team continues to play important games to try and win the division, the top 9 is set, and Howard doesn't need to be on the 4th line. He cam get 6 minutes in the finale and be happy, then go to Syracuse where he belongs atm, or he can pout about not getting more playing time which presents the kind of red flags that should give the organization concerns about his future with the team. If he was so amazing, he probably should've done a bit more vs Cornell to keep MSU's season alive, as most thought MSU would still be playing now anyway.

 

[Point21]

from Friedmans 32 thoughts:

*“I've had some Lightning fans ask me about Isaac Howard. You know, one of the things I wondered there was I was trying to do some back of the napkin math, which is always a really bad idea. But I tried to do it anyway.

And they don't really, unless they do some roster maneuvering, they don't have the cap room to sign Howard right now. But the one thing that someone, so I was asking around, you know, what, what's going on here with, with Howard? I thought maybe they might be waiting for a week or two to sign him.

And someone said to me, they don't think that's necessarily the case. But the one thing this individual did say to me was that Tampa Bay is still kind of promoting Isaac Howard for one of the, for the Hobie Baker. He's one of the three finalists as player of the year in the NCAA.

And they said to me, if Tampa Bay didn't think they were going to sign Isaac Howard or didn't have a chance to do it, they probably wouldn't be promoting him for the Hobie Baker anymore.”*

 

[RussianGuyovich]

It's JBB's job to construct the best team possible, and making moves throughout the year in an already cap strained situation take priority. Howard can wait. I doubt very much he'll ever be half the player Point is, and I'm pretty sure Point got the opportunity because of injuries, the fact that the team maybe wasn't as deep at C, and because he still went through a camp and preseason to show the coaches something to be in the lineup. Even if not, circumstances are different now, as the team continues to play important games to try and win the division, the top 9 is set, and Howard doesn't need to be on the 4th line. He cam get 6 minutes in the finale and be happy, then go to Syracuse where he belongs atm, or he can pout about not getting more playing time which presents the kind of red flags that should give the organization concerns about his future with the team. If he was so amazing, he probably should've done a bit more vs Cornell to keep MSU's season alive, as most thought MSU would still be playing now anyway.

See, this is the thing, you think he’s pouting. I think he’s trying to exchange his labor for money and maximize his return. Good for him. Kid could have a career ending injury at any time.

Stack that paper, Isaac.

 

[Rschmitz]

No problem with Howard, he is doing what’s best for him, makes sense. Again though, it’s a reason to avoid NCAA players.

 

[bov]

If BriseBois wasn't optimistic about signing Howard, he'd be gone.

 

[JTBF81]

See, this is the thing, you think he’s pouting. I think he’s trying to exchange his labor for money and maximize his return. Good for him. Kid could have a career ending injury at any time.

Stack that paper, Isaac.

No, I don't think he's pouting at all. That is one way he could approach this situation though, which I think would be or could be l, an issue. I think he has plenty of confidence in himself, and if he's as good as he thinks he is, he'll get paid soon enough and make the team next season. While I think he has a middle 6 future in the league, with the possibility of 2nd line winger, I also think, like Geekie and others, he may be in for a bit of a step back when he starts facing this level of competition. He can get a game or maybe 2 watching mostly with 6 or 7 minutes of ice time (since Cooper certainly isn't giving him anything else, especially if those last games still matter), and he cam be grateful that Tampa even did that, seeing as they very rarely do.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

People are bringing up Point as an example here? Seriously? Literally using the complete outlier in the case as the standard for Howard? What in the hell.