Lightning Trading Isaac Howard Will Be the Best Choice – Hockey Writer – Lightning Prospects

It seems clear that Isaac Howard won’t fit in Tampa Bay Lightning. Team General Manager Julien Brisebois confirmed this in an exit interview.

“The reality is that we can’t reach a joint acceptance agreement,” Brisbos said on Friday. “If it doesn’t change, he will be a free agent on August 15, 2026.”

In this case, Lightning will receive compensation in 2027 as a second round draft pick. If they let this situation figure it out, they will go from having celebrity talent to lower value options. These drafts can hit and become stars. Ross champion Nikita Kucherov in the Art of Domination is the second round. However, to solve this for this it’s a dice. Especially with the situation where Howard will currently be the only first-round pick between 2019 and 2028.

If you are lightning, you need to use Howard’s rights as part of the deal to get some rewards. With a shallower pool of leads and not much further supply, they must strive to get the most value from losing the highest prospect.

Isaac Howard’s background

Howard was drafted by Lightning No. 31 at the 2022 NHL Draft. He has since stood out in the NCAA with the Michigan Spartans. Howard won him the Hobey Baker Award in his most recent season, the top college hockey player award.

Related: NHL Rumor Shooting: Jon Cooper Not Leaving Lightning

He also dominated the world junior in 2024, helping to lead Team USA to a gold medal. All of these successes hyped his future through lightning, and like that, it looked as good as it disappeared. However, there is an argument that his success in college and international competitions has improved his draft stock enough to make exploring such options worthwhile, rather than just accepting default compensation.

Look at potential swaps

One route that Thunderbolt can explore is to swap Howard for another potential customer upside space. What they can point out is the inspiration situation when the Philadelphia Flyers had to trade forward prospect Knife Gaudier. He didn’t want to play for the flyer, so he was sent to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Jamie Drysdale.

They can be the players they get, they are already in the entry-level trade, which is an idea because he will be in their system, and can also sign.

Another option is that they try to get draft compensation than the compensation that had Howard signed elsewhere. This situation would be an effort to promote first-round picks, otherwise the pathway would not make much sense. The best strategy to make this option work is to coordinate with a team with multiple first-round picks in the upcoming draft.

Some examples include the Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames and Seattle Cleken. Both the Blackhawks and the Flames have two first-round picks in 2025 and 2026. Claken has two first-round picks in 2026 and 2027. Howard could be a promising striker who could join Chicago’s Connor Bedard or provide Kraken with more quality young talent.

He may be a missing team for the Flames and missed the finale playoffs. The latter averaged his fourth goal per game last season (2.68).

They can also try to incorporate Howard’s rights into multiple parts of the packaging transaction. That would require lightning to give up more than just Howard, but it might be worth it, depending on what they get.

There are several ways they can explore an industry that exceeds the 2027 second-round pick. They have time to make decisions. They have about 15 months to get the green light. However, this time it should be used wisely. This is their chance to build a future of more cup success. Howard can still be part of a part of the window to the next, but his contribution may also be a deal for him to be part of him.