NHL prospect Isaac Howard is ready to turn pro after a stellar college season, but his path to the Tampa Bay Lightning isn’t as straightforward as he’d like.
Howard, who just wrapped up his season with Michigan State, wants to jump straight to the NHL and help the Lightning in their playoff push. There’s just one problem: Tampa Bay’s salary cap situation.
The Lightning have only $8,372 in cap space left. That’s barely enough to buy hockey tape, let alone sign a promising young player.
The 20-year-old forward has been tearing it up in college. He put up an impressive 52 points in 37 games this year, including 26 goals. That was good enough for fifth in NCAA scoring.
It’s quite a jump from his point-per-game performance last season at Minnesota-Duluth, before he transferred to Michigan State.
So what are Howard’s options? There are a few ways this could play out.
He could wait until the very end of the regular season, when Tampa might have just enough cap space to squeeze him in. But that would mean sitting around for three weeks, making it tough to crack the playoff lineup.
The other route? Starting in the American Hockey League with the Syracuse Crunch. He’d either need to sign a deal that starts next season or take an unusual path: sign an AHL tryout contract first, then ink his NHL deal later.
That second option isn’t common, but it’s not unheard of. Anaheim’s Sam Colangelo did exactly that last season.
For now, Howard’s situation remains up in the air. But one thing’s clear – after his breakout college season, he’s ready for the next level. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to make the numbers work.
