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

[Rschmitz]

If you take Friedmans tweet at face value as he presents it, maybe a little bit of reading between the lines, Howard wants a guaranteed NHL spot out of the gate and to avoid the AHL.

This isn't a relationship that is going to get better over time, he's buried on the depth chart. 100% he gets dealt to a rebuilding team who can guarantee him an NHL spot. This unfortunately has nothing to do with returning to MSU to go after a championship or maneuvering to position himself for a better entry level contract.

Under the hypothetical case where we did give him NHL games right now(despite our hands tied by the cap), we're looking at more drama down the line if he isn't satisfied with a trip to the AHL as he's unable to break into the lineup. Maaayyyybbeeee there was a way to maximize his value before a deal and it's bad asset management to not promise him the moon and deal him away, but I think the final calculus is he's not going to be happy here and we have to move on.

 

[Sky04]

Lmao of course skye brings up Chaffee. Glad he’s not on my side of this discussion, so I know I’m right.

Sergachev got traded so you didn't have to die on that hill now you choose this one lmao ok Guy.

 

[DFC]

If you take Friedmans tweet at face value as he presents it, maybe a little bit of reading between the lines, Howard wants a guaranteed NHL spot out of the gate and to avoid the AHL.

This isn't a relationship that is going to get better over time, he's buried on the depth chart. 100% he gets dealt to a rebuilding team who can guarantee him an NHL spot. This unfortunately has nothing to do with returning to MSU to go after a championship or maneuvering to position himself for a better entry level contract.

Under the hypothetical case where we did give him NHL games right now(despite our hands tied by the cap), we're looking at more drama down the line if he isn't satisfied with a trip to the AHL as he's unable to break into the lineup. Maaayyyybbeeee there was a way to maximize his value before a deal and it's bad asset management to not promise him the moon and deal him away, but I think the final calculus is he's not going to be happy here and we have to move on.

I don't think we are gonna guarantee prospects anything other than money. Nor should we. If your assessment is correct, we move him at the draft.

 

[Point21]

saw someone propose this on reddit but if Howard decides he wants to move on, would a swap of Howard for Nemec peak any interest. Personally i wouldnt really hate it as we dont really have a legitimate top tier D prospect and he would likely fit into the lineup next season compared to Howard having to jump quite a few guys just to get into the middle 6.

 

[Felonious Python]

If we traded Howard for a 2025 first round pick, what number could we get?

 

[Point21]

If we traded Howard for a 2025 first round pick, what number could we get?

maybe around 20-25

 

[Rschmitz]

saw someone propose this on reddit but if Howard decides he wants to move on, would a swap of Howard for Nemec peak any interest. Personally i wouldnt really hate it as we dont really have a legitimate top tier D prospect and he would likely fit into the lineup next season compared to Howard having to jump quite a few guys just to get into the middle 6.

Agreed for all of the reasons you mention, I don't think Jersey is that stupid though

 

[Rschmitz]

If we traded Howard for a 2025 first round pick, what number could we get?

maybe around 20-25

I doubt his value is that high now that he's a risk to go all the way to UFA

 

[Felonious Python]

maybe around 20-25

Makes sense. Apparently the 2026 draft is a deep one (what that means, I don't really know. Is that first round depth, good top 10 depth, overall depth?)

 

[Stammertime91]

Someone pass the popcorn please

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Who said he’s the top prospect in the league? I haven’t seen that once. No one even said he’s the best lightning prospect. This is just a straw man exaggeration, and geekie is a red herring.

Who said he was the top prospect in the league? I specifically said consider him a top prospect in the league. Those are vastly different statements. Its not a strawman, there is 23 pages of a select few people treating losing Howard the equivalent to losing Geekie or other top players. Its cognitive dissonance on the part of people here that are losing their damn minds because of a 31st pick, who wouldn't even list on the top 30 prospects in the NHL.

Buddy do you think think this team needs another 4th liner. Anyone who even wants to talk about chafees goals needs to actually watch the games on espn + and see how badly Chaffee is defensively. The dude is dumb as shit and 27 he’s not getting better

Yes, quite frankly the teams biggest weakness is bottom 6 players. You think a top 10 in scoring team needs more players who score more goals? Our biggest weakness is the fourth line and Chaffee can at least play d and produce some offense from there. All for 800k and even when he needs a new contract, its not going to be huge. Chaffee is vastly better defensively than Howard. Its not even close. Chaffee is cost controlled and the exact reason he's still here and Howard isn't. Howard wanted to remove the cost control from the team.

EDIT: I am not saying that not signing Howard is the right move by the way. I am saying its not the end of the world and its not this huge fumble. If Howard signs, great. If he doesn't, not going to lose sleep about it.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

This thread, man, its a struggle

 

[Major4Boarding]

You know, after sleeping on it overnight is Ike that guy who could not let this first round exit go and decide to come back for a fourth year? As in I’m returning for unfinished business?

It just makes me wonder. Does he decide to go Pro now and leave this behind him or does it weigh on him and figure he’ll still get the same opportunity next year to go Pro?

It reminds me of the scene in Animal House with Pinto and the Devil on one shoulder and the Angel on the other

Selfishly, I hope he signs his ELC in the next 48 hours. But just couldn’t help but think this out loud if he decides to return to MSU.

It’s my fault, ya’ll. It’s all my fault…

 

[Stammertime91]

This thread, man, its a struggle

We are just spectators, pal.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

This thread, man, its a struggle

You just can’t handle the heat; old man

 

[RussianGuyovich]

It’s an interesting sociological experiment. I used to think people got weinery about athletes income/entitlement was causally linked to salary caps and the distribution of compensation nexus to competitive team building. But now, with college getting NIL and it basically not affecting the parity of sports at all, yet people still hate to see young guys stack paper, it seems as though people are just flat out jealous. Which, yeah I get that I guess. Dude here is pearl clutching about Howard putting in his time, for some reason. Like he’s literally white knighting geekie. And it seems like maybe he’s just projecting his own insecurities. Jung had a theory that when we are dismissive of another's chosen field, it is because we fear that our own chosen field is inadequate. But you know what dissenting hf boards posters? You are a valuable human being. I’m sure you’re all important to someone.

 

[Sky04]

No one is saying Howard shouldn't get his dough, they're more looking out for the best interest of the team which is obviously to not burn an ELC year, if you missed that whole point in this dicussion you're just some weirdo projecting yourself onto some 21 year old college kid cause you missed out on your own opportunities in life.

Somehow if you're against signing Howard at all cost you're against college players getting paid now LOL something something strawman argument.

 

[JoVel]

I feel very strongly about this situation and I am furious.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

saw someone propose this on reddit but if Howard decides he wants to move on, would a swap of Howard for Nemec peak any interest. Personally i wouldnt really hate it as we dont really have a legitimate top tier D prospect and he would likely fit into the lineup next season compared to Howard having to jump quite a few guys just to get into the middle 6.

Nemec sucks ass, pass

 

[DistantThunderRep]

No one is saying Howard shouldn't get his dough, they're more looking out for the best interest of the team which is obviously to not burn an ELC year, if you missed that whole point in this dicussion you're just some weirdo projecting yourself onto some 21 year old college kid cause you missed out on your own opportunities in life.

Somehow if you're against signing Howard at all cost you're against college players getting paid now LOL something something strawman argument.

Yeah, you summed up what I was trying to say. It has nothing to do with Howard not getting money or some stupid shit. This is strictly a disagreement where some people think Howard makes us better now and we must have him now. And others, like myself, saying we are better now without burning a year of his contract but if he leaves, he leaves.

It's just wild that people think Howard is something like the second coming of Point or Jesus

 

[Hockeyville USA]

No one is saying Howard shouldn't get his dough, they're more looking out for the best interest of the team which is obviously to not burn an ELC year, if you missed that whole point in this dicussion you're just some weirdo projecting yourself onto some 21 year old college kid cause you missed out on your own opportunities in life.

Somehow if you're against signing Howard at all cost you're against college players getting paid now LOL something something strawman argument.

Burning an ELC year now is not as important going forward with the cap increasing going forward. If Howard jumped into the league full time next year after burning an ELC year this year and was just fine, then his RFA deal wouldn't be super expensive. If he's awesome and the RFA deal would be expensive, that's a good problem to have IMHO.

BriseBois letting things get to this point due to not having cap space to sign Howard and not guaranteeing him at least a couple NHL games to end the season means that Howard's value decreases significantly, thus any offseason trade would result in a worse return than if you had traded him at the deadline.

And for the people who think Howard will just go back to State and then sign with Tampa after State is done in March/April 2026, I'm quite skeptical on that. I'm guessing the bridge is burned or at least pretty damn close to that now.

Who knows, we'll see, I'll gladly eat crow and forget about this if the Lightning win the Cup in 2025 (or even 2026), but if not, then it's just something that won't sit well with me for quite awhile. I really wanted to see Howard play for the Lightning and the fact that that isn't very likely to happen at this point (due to a variety of factors) is just really disappointing. Sad, if you will.

 

[Stelio Kontos]

Certainly helps more than Howard right now by a mile, you ok?

Ehh been ok think trading a 1st round pick for a retread who’s 5’7 and 33 and another for temu teddy purcell while losing the best bottom 6 forward we had was stupid as shit but we will see. Wbu?

1 goal in 17 games. Please tell me the last team that has won a championship or gotten anywhere close that has lost a player for nothing traded a 1st rd pick or any pick to get him back? In any league please tell me. Let’s keep running the same system with the exact same players for 8 years

 

[Sky04]

I mean you have a certifiably crazy person in here saying we should've traded Chaffee for nothing 2 months ago so that Howard could maybe games cause f*** the cup run it's all about getting this kid signed even if he does nothing.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

Yeah, you summed up what I was trying to say. It has nothing to do with Howard not getting money or some stupid shit. This is strictly a disagreement where some people think Howard makes us better now and we must have him now. And others, like myself, saying we are better now without burning a year of his contract but if he leaves, he leaves.

It's just wild that people think Howard is something like the second coming of Point or Jesus

That’s not the case at all. A lot of us are just purely looking at it from an asset retention perspective. Burning the ELC year isn’t a big deal, but if he’s demanding playing time in the playoffs that’s a different story. The truth is we don’t know what he was asking for.

With that being said, I don’t get the holier-than-thou attitude people in here are having. The possibility of losing a top prospect for nothing f***ing sucks, regardless of what he was going to pan out to be.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

In the new 32 Thoughts podcast Friedman says it seems Howard’s camp didn’t see eye-to-eye with the Lightning on his path forward. If I had to guess, he doesn’t want to play in the AHL next year. He also said he wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of teams call about him this summer.