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

[RSchmitz PhD]

When the Lightning were about to make their pick at 31, there were just a few guys that you could make serious arguments about being 'Best Player Available" & thus draft: Isaac Howard, Jagger Firkus, Seamus Casey, Lane Hutson, and to a lesser extent, Ryan Chesley. I was very happy they got Howard who I had as a top 15 talent before the draft. Hopefully this gets resolved and he gets signed but it doesn't look good at all.

Yeah, at 31 BPA is a range of different guys, not one can’t miss guy

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

it's a little more complicated than that, since if he goes back to MSU, he won't be available to any team prior to just before the playoffs, and they also have no guarantee that howard won't just wait a couple more months for FA and get to choose his destination.

im not saying we can't flip howard for something, but he will have lost some value in trade for sure.

The solution is clearly tarriffs

 

[Hockeyville USA]

it's a little more complicated than that, since if he goes back to MSU, he won't be available to any team prior to just before the playoffs, and they also have no guarantee that howard won't just wait a couple more months for FA and get to choose his destination.

im not saying we can't flip howard for something, but he will have lost some value in trade for sure.

Or you just wait and get a late 2027 compensatory 2nd rounder. Regardless, not good at all unless we somehow get him signed at this point

 

[RussianGuyovich]

from now on we only draft tampa-born players. juche style

 

[creg]

If you're right then we can look forward to what was that? 6 or 7 years of a Sergachev? I don't hate it

I don't think this is the worst off-season for this to happen, there are plenty of good young players who are in precarious situations with their org this year - Rossi, Kesselring, Bourque, York, etc.

If you can use Howard to acquire some good, nhl ready talent I don't think that all is lost.

oh for sure. howard's highest value to us was at the TDL, and word is that he was getting a lot of requests, so JBB not moving him this year for more help COUPLED with the potential to lose him for less next year (or nothing at all) is a pretty poor performance by the picks hater.

I dont think we're at a gauthier style situation yet, but we're not out of the woods yet.

Yeah, I mean it's a weird situation - with everything that JBB has said both publicly and in his actions you'd think that there was a pretty clear path here. I just think as much as there's frustration from Howard's side there's probably an equal amount from Tampa's - this is a pretty brutal start to a professional relationship.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

I don't think this is the worst off-season for this to happen, there are plenty of good young players who are in precarious situations with their org this year - Rossi, Kesselring, Bourque, York, etc.

If you can use Howard to acquire some good, nhl ready talent I don't think that all is lost.


Yeah, I mean it's a weird situation - with everything that JBB has said both publicly and in his actions you'd think that there was a pretty clear path here. I just think as much as there's frustration from Howard's side there's probably an equal amount from Tampa's - this is a pretty brutal start to a professional relationship.

I smell a big trade in the offseason. And when I say big I don't mean something predictable like a reunion with Stamkos. I think you are on the right track with a guy like Rossi and Kesselring. And I think it happens even if we sign Howard anyway


Like imagine Fantilli but maybe not him specifically

 

[RussianGuyovich]

kesselring is who i wanted at the TDL

 

[Hockeyville USA]

I smell a big trade in the offseason. And when I say big I don't mean something predictable like a reunion with Stamkos. I think you are on the right track with a guy like Rossi and Kesselring. And I think it happens even if we sign Howard anyway


Like imagine Fantilli but maybe not him specifically

The only thing with a Rossi trade is that Guerin wants bigger players and Howard doesn't fit that profile. That's part of the reason why Guerin doesn't love Rossi (despite MR23 being a very solid young contributor for the Wild).

 

[atlanticobserver]

Someone needs to figure out the format of the MSU email address so we can ask him what the deal is. Seems like a chiller, dude would prob tell us what's up.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

The only thing with a Rossi trade is that Guerin wants bigger players and Howard doesn't fit that profile. That's part of the reason why Guerin doesn't love Rossi (despite MR23 being a very solid young contributor for the Wild).

Rossi is intriguing to me but I'm not ready to give up the moon for him. He has been through A LOT and as someone who's been chomping at the bit to trade Cirelli for a huge package for years.... we can do better than Rossi

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Rossi is intriguing to me but I'm not ready to give up the moon for him. He has been through A LOT and as someone who's been chomping at the bit to trade Cirelli for a huge package for years.... we can do better than Rossi

I don't think we could get more than Rossi straight up for Howard. I could see BriseBois trying to trade Howard to a Western Conference team with an overabundance of draft picks, which the Lightning could either keep & use or flip right away for another forward and/or defenseman.

We'll see what BriseBois does over the next 7 days and if a remedy is found or this lingers into the offseason before an inevitable trade at the draft at that point.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Rossi is intriguing to me but I'm not ready to give up the moon for him. He has been through A LOT and as someone who's been chomping at the bit to trade Cirelli for a huge package for years.... we can do better than Rossi

Another team we could get draft picks from is Pittsburgh, they have an overabundance and Dubas has stated he's open to trading picks for NHL ready prospects.

 

[OurlordAndSaviorKuch]

We are about to lose him for nothing and that's just unacceptable, Bring him in at the start of next season and go from there.

 

[bov]

You mean to tell me the guy called Ice Man, who proclaimed himself best looking and best dressed at his draft (while sounding like...not the brightest bulb) isn't playing ball with JBB?

There's still time, I'd be very surprised if he walks for nothing. They'll either figure out a deal soon or trade him before he has the chance to leave for free. This is the risk, and I'm sure JBB has accounted for this scenario.

 

[creg]

Welp, like a billion different sources all came out and confirmed that he's returning to college in the last 5 minutes, will be waiting to see what we move him for.

 

[JTBF81]

If Howard isn't willing to accept the situation as JBB and management feels is best, he was always welcome to make this decision. Tampa doesn't bend to the wants of prospects, so if getting g a game or two at the end if the year wasn't good enough, oh well. A deal can still get done, but if Howard is adamant on this decision, it's time for JBB to explore trade options.

 

[RSchmitz PhD]

Really need JBB or Howard’s agent to say what the hell is going on.

 

[kmwtrucks]

a few MSU reporters are confirming he is going back. plus trey A went back. I'm starting to wonder if he would not agree to a trade. no one will give you anything of value unless he is willing to sign and he wont sign unless he can burn a year. if he waits until after next season his ELC is only 2 years instead of 3. Best case for Tampa is trade him now. Or try and have him burn his year next year and only have 1 year left after that. Signing for next season would be the same as going UFA in regard to when his ELC is up.

 

[Point21]

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

Whelp. The door is open for this time next year. Just sit on it I guess

 

[JTBF81]

Unfortunate, but it was a possibility. Now it's up to JBB to either have confidence that Howard will still sign when MSU is done next season, or if not 100% convinced, trade him now either by himself or this summer in a larger package deal perhaps.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

Shitty news for sure. Hope we can change his mind, trading him for a loss or losing him for nothing would be miserable.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

JBB not signing a significant prospect, hockey world: art of the deal.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

Tremendous f*** up by the GMJB

 

[Stelio Kontos]

WTF!!!!! Massive f*** up unbelievable

Need to fire these pro scouts that are telling JBB to sign these washed up vets Sheary, Atkinson smfh