Isaac Howard Joins the Edmonton Oilers After Being Traded by the Tampa Bay Lightning
The Hobey Baker Award winner, Isaac Howard, is now part of the Edmonton Oilers after being traded by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. In this trade, Howard went to the two-time Western Conference champion team, while the Lightning acquired center prospect Sam O’Reilly. Howard, 21, has just finished his junior season at Michigan State and has also signed an entry-level contract with the Oilers. The Lightning selected Howard in the first round in 2022, coming from the famous United States National Team Development Program. Howard played one season at Minnesota Duluth, where he scored six goals and 17 points in 35 games before transferring to MSU. In East Lansing, he averaged a point per game in 36 games, helping the Spartans win the Big Ten championship and advance to the Division I Men’s National Tournament for the first time since the 2011-12 season.His strong sophomore season set the stage for a junior campaign in which he scored 26 goals and 52 points in 37 games. Howard was third in the country in goals and fifth in points, guiding the Spartans to a second consecutive conference title and a tournament appearance, where they lost in the first round.
Winning the Hobey Baker Award for the nation’s best male player only added to what made Howard such an attractive prospect. Another factor was that having a young forward like Howard would provide an organization currently in a championship window with a top-nine forward on a team-friendly deal. However, the Lightning weren’t that team, as it was reported in April that Howard wouldn’t sign with the team that drafted him and would return to school for his senior season. If Howard returned to school and didn’t sign, he would have been an unrestricted free agent in August 2026. That also would have left the Lightning losing an important prospect for nothing in return. But now they acquired O’Reilly, who scored 28 goals and 71 points in 62 games for the London Knights in the OHL. Howard’s signing with his ELC now provides the cap-strapped Oilers with another player on a cheap contract in an offseason in which they parted ways with Viktor Arvidsson, Connor Brown, Evander Kane, John Klingberg and Corey Perry in order to gain financial flexibility. Howard’s signing with the Oilers adds to what has been an active day for college hockey in July, which began with Gavin McKenna, the projected No. 1 prospect for 2026, announcing he would go to Penn State.
