Brett Howard admitted that he started getting very comfortable after the first 161 games of his Rangers career.
So while it was first since a healthy scratch when the Lightning traded him to New York in a 4–0 win over the Brewers on March 13, the center saw it as an opportunity to reset.
“For me, just to be able to sit that game down and look at the top and kind of focused on my game and be ready for the next one,” Howden said on Thursday. “It was a good shock for me and for me to really find my game and work hard.
“I just want to get ahead of it and keep trying to get better.”
The 22-year-old, came out the next two games and had a re-energized offensive patience, essentially nonexistent through the first 25 matchups of the 2020-21 season. Now he is riding a two-game assist streak in the Rangers matchup against the Capitals on Friday.
The Rangers do not value Howden for their offensive contributions, which is a good thing that they have not scored a goal since 28 February 2020. The Rangers consider Howard as one of the top four penalty-kills who can faceoff.
Howden played a major role in the Blueshirts Stellar penalty kill this season (85.9 percent), which has the third highest efficiency rating in the NHL. However, his offensive production in his three seasons has greatly influenced him.
After scoring six goals and assisting 17 for 23 points in his rookie season in 2018–19, Howden took his goal to a total of nine, but had just 10 assists for 19 points last year. Through 27 games this season, he has registered four assists – only one of which was a primary assistant.
There has been a lineup contest between Colin Blackwell, Julian Gauthier, Brendan Lemieux and Kevin Rooney among the lower six Forrest. And now that Hovden recognized that she was in the mix, it gave her some extra inspiration. See further, all five players above are eligible to be revealed in this summer’s Seattle Kraken expansion draft, with only one likely to be protected.
“I think during the games everybody is just paying attention to the work and doing their job,” he said. “If you are worrying about all the other small things, then you cannot play to the best of your ability and your mind is not in the right place. Those decisions are not up to us, they are the decisions of the coaches, and for us, anyone who gets put into us is just trying to get ready to go and win a game. “
It has been argued that Howden could benefit from starting the season at Howardford, but with the AHL season being delayed due to the COHID-19 pandemic, it was not really an option. Howen has played enough NHL games to lose his waiver-free status, so no one should expect Rangers to put him in a taxi squad or send him to the Wolf Pack.
With a cap hit of $ 863,333 in the final year of his entry-level contract, Howard would not get through the Waves. But the Rangers have been high on Howden and what he brings to the lineup. Turning aggressive production will increase the value and likelihood of continuing his career in New York.
“I think if I’m a power forward, center or wing, I can play both,” Howden said of what he brings to the Rangers. “I bring energy and patience and try to pretend there.”
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