Michigan State men's ice hockey has added left wing Isaac Howard through the transfer portal today. Howard is reuniting with his old head coach Adam Nightingale from his time at the U.S. National Development Program.
Howard, who turns 19 on March 30, was a first-round draft-pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. He was selected 31st overall.
He will arrive for next season as a sophomore for Michigan State. In his freshman season at Minnesota-Duluth, Howard had six goals and 11 assists.
According to EPRinkside in 2021, Howard is "an offensive dynamo" and that he "has a natural instinct for scoring."
Howard is the third portal addition for MSU since the transfer portal opened for all players on Monday morning. Since then, the program has added right wing Reed Lebster from UMass and center Redmond Savage from Miami (a 2021 draft selection for the Detroit Red Wings).
All three players have direct connections to coaches at MSU. Lebster played with associate head coach Jared DeMichiel at UMass before DeMichiel was hired at Michigan State ahead of the 2022-2023 season. Savage didn't directly play for Nightingale at the U.S. National Development Team, as Nightingale was hired as the under-17 head coach the same year that Savage was promoted to the under-18 team. Then, of course, Howard played for Nightingale at the Development Team during the 2020-2021 season.
Michigan State hasn't had a first-round draft pick on the roster since Daultan Leveillë was taken 29th overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2008.