Isaac Howard excited for NHL Draft before UMD hockey debut
Editor’s note: The Tampa Bay Lightning selected F Isaac Howard with the No. 31 pick in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft on July 7. Howard will play for the University of Minnesota-Duluth this year.
DULUTH, Minn. (BVM) – Isaac Howard, a University of Minnesota-Duluth commit, is ready for his moment at the 2022 NHL Draft. The dream he has had since he was a kid is finally about to come true.
“I’m super pumped,” Howard said. “Obviously it’s been my dream since I started playing hockey so just to have it coming up within two weeks is really cool.”
Howard enters the draft as a first-round prospect and one of the 10 best Americans in the draft. Most NHL draft boards and mock drafts have him going as high as 10 or somewhere in the middle of the first round but no one expects him to wait very long to hear his name called.
The 18 year old is an offensive force on the ice with a knack for finding the back of the net. Through two seasons with the prestigious USA Hockey National Team Development Program (USNTDP) in the USHL, Howard had 70 points in 55 games. He leaves the prestigious hockey program tied for fifth in career assists with 95 and is eighth career points 161 career points. It showcases Howard’s ability to not only score goals but get his teammates involved in the attack.
“I’m a high pace offensive player,” Howard said. “I love to drive the play, score goals, set up those plays and I think I’m a quality goal scorer. I can always find a way to impact the game on the score sheet night-in, night-out. I think the teams know they’re getting that out of me.”
If they didn’t, there are plenty of examples of Howard doing just that. During the 2020 Youth Olympic Games, he had seven goals in four games to help Team USA win a silver medal. Watching Jake Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lighting, Howard has studied their games and tries to implement what they do into his own game.
Howard also has spent most of 2022 telling teams what they can expect out of him. The draft process has been long and arduous at times, but Howard has made sure to enjoy every second of it.
“I learned to enjoy it because it’s a process that only happens once,” Howard said.
It’s a process that he hasn’t had to do on his own. Logan Cooley and Cutter Gauthier are USNTDP teammates of Howard’s and both are projected to go in the first round as well. Along with the three projected to go in the first are other USNTDP players that should get drafted.
“You got guys around you that are going through the same process so it’s easy to talk about it and be open with them,” Howard said. “I think it definitely helped.”
However, the NHL draft does seem to come with the territory of being in the development program. With all the talent and some of the best coaches in hockey, the program constantly produces talent. The team Howard has been a part of was successful in the USHL and played against DI hockey teams over the last two years.
“Pretty much when you go to the national team, that stuff is kind of in your system at that point because there is so much buzz around the national team,” Howard said. “It’s kind of just right in front of your face.”
But Howard wanted all that came with being on the national team. He set the goal of making it to the development program back when he was a freshman at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School. At that time, he was also being recruited to play Division I hockey.
“I kind of knew I was playing past high school at that point and that’s kind of when it set in,” Howard said. “I was like, ‘I could make a living out of this.’”
The kid from Hudson, Wisconsin who grew up in a hockey family was seeing the determination and dedication he had from an early age start to pay off.
Howard had been skating since he was 2 and although his brothers and father played, he took the game more seriously. That training is what drew scouts to him and after a recruiting process that led to North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth being the final two options, he chose to become a Bulldog.
“They have a winning culture and they know how to develop guys to the next level,” Howard said. “You go in there to win and also go in there to develop and be your best version in the NHL.”
That is still his goal and soon he will know which NHL team he is preparing for. Until then, he will continue to enjoy the draft process and then it will be off to Duluth for the next chapter of his hockey career.
