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

Five Alarm Fire said:
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.
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If true, it's sounding more and more similar to the Drouin case in regards to Syracuse.. If so, JBB should definitely look to get good value this summer and just part ways.
 
JTBF81 said:
If true, it's sounding more and more similar to the Drouin case in regards to Syracuse.. If so, JBB should definitely look to get good value this summer and just part ways.
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Drouin had absolutely no business in Syracuse. I'm not saying what he did was okay. But he was unanimously supported by his teammates while he held out. And was immediately vindicated by consistently being one of our better/best players both in the playoffs and the following year. This is the opposite of Coop having stick up his ass after 80 games and saying "You know what will fix this? 12 games in Syracuse"

Like let's chain Howard to the bench for 80 games and send him down to the minors anyway while he averages .500 PPG
 
AlwaysSunnyInTampa said:
Drouin had absolutely no business in Syracuse. I'm not saying what he did was okay. But he was unanimously supported by his teammates while he held out. And was immediately vindicated by consistently being one of our better/best players both in the playoffs and the following year. This is the opposite of Coop having stick up his ass after 80 games and saying "You know what will fix this? 12 games in Syracuse"

Like let's chain Howard to the bench for 80 games and send him down to the minors anyway while he averages .500 PPG
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Of course it's not the exact same, only similar in that Howard may also not be willing to play in Syracuse. Drouin was a much better prospect/player and shouldn't have been sent down. It's pretty clear the team isn't going to be told what they have to do by Howard or his camp in regards to his playing time, so *if that is the position he and his camp are taking, JBB is no doubt talking with multiple teams on a trade.
 
If it is a case of him not wanting to play in Syracuse then he's probably in for a rude awakening, he's a good prospect but it's pretty clear he's not ready. Rutger McGroarty had an equivalent offensive output in his second NCAA season and even he couldn't make the 2024-2025 Pittsburgh Penguins.

Glad to hear that EF thinks a lot of teams will be interested, Utah has been pretty weak on LW I'd be thrilled if they could use it to try to pry Maccelli & Kesselring out. I don't think NJ is dumb enough to give up on Nemec but if you can move Howard+++ to get him that would be a great move.
 
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If Howard isn't willing to the possibility of being in Syracuse for much of if not all of 2025-26, then yeah, trade his rights. If his position was not wanting to finish this season on an ATO in Syracuse, that's totally understandable since he deserved a couple regular season games to end this season.

If it comes out that Howard is actually being an entitled f*** and never wants to spend a second in the A (similar to McGroarty prior to being traded), then I'll gladly eat crow. My thought process was Howard would end this season with 3ish regular season games in Tampa and then a black ace/healthy scratch in the playoffs and then would have to earn his spot in camp next year.
 
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JTBF81 said:
Of course it's not the exact same, only similar in that Howard may also not be willing to play in Syracuse. Drouin was a much better prospect/player and shouldn't have been sent down. It's pretty clear the team isn't going to be told what they have to do by Howard or his camp in regards to his playing time, so *if that is the position he and his camp are taking, JBB is no doubt talking with multiple teams on a trade.
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Here's the grab. I will side with Howard all day on "What's the big deal" if he joins in the middle of a season. Playing 1 or 2 games is a nothingburger. If he sucks he goes to the minors. End of story. If he is great, everyone looks like a genius. If he's gonna sign at the last minute next year and goes through camp and preseason and it's determined he needs the AHL. Well by all means Ike, grab your things and report for duty. I side with the Lightning here. I don't know which side is being inflexible but it's tiring to watch another one of these drag out.

My opinion is it is ridiculous that this has consistently found a way to be an issue for over a decade. It's become clear to me that our organization is utterly incapable of dealing with and managing high level prospects.


I am genuinely frightened to see how we would handle a 19 year old 4th overall NCAA pick who went back to college and scored 38 goals en route to a natty or anyone who bagged 133 points in the CHL in their +1 draft seasons
 
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AlwaysSunnyInTampa said:
Here's the grab. I will side with Howard all day on "What's the big deal" if he joins in the middle of a season. Playing 1 or 2 games is a nothingburger. If he sucks he goes to the minors. End of story. If he is great, everyone looks like a genius. If he's gonna sign at the last minute next year and goes through camp and preseason and it's determined he needs the AHL. Well by all means Ike, grab your things and report for duty. I side with the Lightning here. I don't know which side is being inflexible but it's tiring to watch another one of these drag out.

My opinion is it is ridiculous that this has consistently found a way an issue for over a decade. It's become clear to me that our organization is utterly incapable of dealing with and managing high level prospects.


I am genuinely frightened to see how we would handle a 19 year old 4th overall NCAA pick who went back to college and scored 38 goals en route to a natty or anyone who bagged 133 points in the CHL in their +1 draft seasons
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Agree, and I didn't have an issue, for the most part, with Howard getting a game or two at the end of this season in a limited capacity. I didn't really care about burning an elc year. I was just commenting on the speculation that perhaps Howard may not be interested in spending any time in Syracuse at all, whether this year or next. If that's the case, then yeah, let's get moving on a trade package asap.
 
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JTBF81 said:
Agree, and I didn't have an issue, for the most part, with Howard getting a game or two at the end of this season in a limited capacity. I didn't really care about burning an elc year. I was just commenting on the speculation that perhaps Howard may not be interested in spending any time in Syracuse at all, whether this year or next. If that's the case, then yeah, let's get moving on a trade package asap.
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Meh. I don't even care what the reason is anymore. It's up to the Lightning for this to stop happening.

I'm probably getting the order mixed up but screw it

-We decided 2 years of bus rides is what Brett Connolly needed after spending a year in the NHL and developed him backwards

-We shackled Drouin to the bench only to turn around and play him how we were supposed to anyway after one of the most pointless stints in the minors ever

-We draft DeAngelo anyway for God only knows what reason

-We pass on Filip Forsberg so we can have Koekkoek play 3 years in Syracuse AFTER going back to juniors instead of just trading the guy

-We couldn't get Gusev signed when he was the best non-NHL player in the world at the time

- Now we're doing whatever the hell this is with Howard. I'm just as willing to believe Howard is being a prick about this

I'm not so sure we wouldn't screw up Ivan Demidov too if we had somehow miraculously had the top 5 pick he was taken with 2 years ago
 
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DistantThunderRep said:
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
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I don’t think Howard makes us better now, I think he has the potential in the future. And there is a chance we f***ed that up. But Chaffee sucks too
 
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If he's unwilling to play in the AHL, that's a problem. Even if he wouldn't be sent there, not being willing to do it shows the type of attitude that we purged from the organization before the cup runs.
 
DFC said:
If he's unwilling to play in the AHL, that's a problem. Even if he wouldn't be sent there, not being willing to do it shows the type of attitude that we purged from the organization before the cup runs.
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If he's unwilling to the possibility of having to play in the A in 2025-26, major problem. If he was unwilling to go to Syracuse on an ATO to end this season, I have no issues with it, he earned a standard ELC & 2-3 NHL regular season games to end the season, which is what I thought would happen.

Major difference between the two IMHO.
 
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Why draft a college player early when you are unwilling to play ball? Why not trade him at the TDL?

I guess we will see what the kid brings back this off season. Seems like a significant miscalculation by JBB on the surface
 
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Hockeyville USA said:
Haven't listened to it yet, but Howard went on Chiclets Game Notes and apparently talked a bit about why he hasn't signed with Tampa

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Paraphrasing:
Me and Tampa didn't see eye to eye... It wasn't a situation where I was demanding to step right into the NHL.

Doesn't sound too good, but who knows.
 
My thought from what he says here is that they probably talked about where he'd be playing for the most part in 2025-26 & BriseBois said most likely in the A and Howard believes that the university lifestyle at State is much more appealing than bus rides to Utica, Bridgeport, Hartford, etc & eating cold subs.

Not sure if he runs out the clock completely to UFA or if his rights just get traded to a team whom he'll sign with & that will easily insert him into their NHL line.

 
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Hockeyville USA said:
My thought from what he says here is that they probably talked about where he'd be playing for the most part in 2025-26 & BriseBois said most likely in the A and Howard believes that the university lifestyle at State is much more appealing than bus rides to Utica, Bridgeport, Hartford, etc & eating cold subs.

Not sure if he runs out the clock completely to UFA or if his rights just get traded to a team whom he'll sign with & that will easily insert him into their NHL line.

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Yeah, it was always his choice, but he had to know, given Tampa's lineup and other guys battling for maybe 1-2 roster spots, that at least a good part of next season was going to be in Syracuse. He could have also decided to fully bet on himself beating out the rest and getting a full time spot a la Geekie this past camp, but this path isn't that surprising. If JBB feels confident that Howatd will sign and wants to be part of the team moving ahead, I think he'll keep his rights and take that chance. If he has any doubt though, he'll trade him for the best offer at the draft imo.
 
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