ST. LOUIS — Michigan State star Isaac “Ike” Howard was named this year’s Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner — awarded each season to the top player in men’s Division I college hockey — in a ceremony at the Stifel Theatre on Friday evening, the eve of the national championship game.
Howard, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound winger who just turned 21 on March 30, was the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 31st pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. The junior led MSU in scoring this season with 26 goals and 52 points in 37 games, 21 more points than his nearest teammate.
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Boston College forward Ryan Leonard, who has signed with the Washington Capitals, and Denver defenseman Zeev Buium, who will soon sign with the Minnesota Wild, were the other two finalists.
Howard began his college career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth before transferring to a rejuvenated MSU program to reunite with his former head coach at USA Hockey’s National Training Development Program (NTDP), Adam Nightingale. Under Nightingale, Howard led the Spartans in scoring in back-to-back seasons.
As a sophomore, he registered 36 points in 36 games and won a Big Ten championship with the Spartans. He also led the 2024 World Juniors in goals (7) and points (9) in seven games, winning a gold medal with Team USA and scoring twice in the gold medal game.
When the Spartans were ousted from the national tournament, he sat tied for third in the NCAA in goals and points.
The award comes just days after he decided not to sign with the Lightning and to instead return to MSU for his senior year. The decision positions him to become a free agent after playing out his fourth year of eligibility with the Spartans in 2025-26.
According to a source with Michigan State, Spartans staff had encouraged him to turn pro, believing he’d accomplished everything he could at the college level. The Hobey honor signals that.
But he didn’t get the opportunity with the Lightning that he anticipated they’d offer him, and Tampa’s cap situation and pursuit of an Atlantic Division title made signing him and burning a year of his entry-level contract (his preference and the standard with top college players) more complicated.
In The Athletic’s 2025 top 100 drafted NHL prospects ranking, released in February, Howard ranked 55th.
Scouting report
Howard is a player with the kind of track record of success that nearly always translates. Though he’s “short” at 5-foot-10, he’s not small, with a muscular build that makes him sturdier than you might expect on his feet and over pucks. He’s got quick crossover acceleration with a hurried stride that cranks its way up ice to give him good speed. There are times when he can look like an all-offense player, but when his effort level and tenaciousness match his skill level, you’ll see him around the puck all game, which we’ve seen more of as he has ramped up his off-puck movement and drive at MSU.
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Inside the offensive zone, he’s extremely dangerous on the puck, with underrated creativity to complement his high-end skill; though he tries things occasionally at the offensive-zone blue line that he shouldn’t get away with, he also usually executes them. He makes a lot of plays under the triangles of defenders’ sticks, he navigates in and out of holes in traffic well, and when he’s in attack mode taking pucks from a standstill into the middle of the ice to create looks, he’s a ton of fun to watch and forces opposing players to reach in on him, which draws a lot of penalties.
But he’s even more dangerous off the puck, with a scorer’s sixth sense for always arriving just in time in Grade-A locations, whether that’s hiding in coverage or just staying around the puck at the net. He’s the kind of player who finds ways to get open in the home-plate area and then makes quick, aggressive finishing plays either with his hands or a heavy one-touch/catch-and-release shot. I think some of his so-so freshman year can now be attributed to some of his struggles to create for himself, but also that they didn’t have a natural playmaker to find him in soft space and facilitate for him. He’s going to need that at the next level to make the most of his talent.
Ultimately, Howard is a player who is always going to have PP utility but will require the right coach, usage and linemates to be the impactful top-six winger I think he’s capable of being at five-on-five. It has been nice, though, over the last two years to see him play with more jump, get to more loose pucks, move his feet to get off the wall and to the slot/net, and be above and supporting more pucks when the other team has possession.
(Photo courtesy of MSU Athletic Communications)
This news was originally published on this post .
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