Unsigned Lightning Prospect Isaac Howard Wins Hobey Baker: Will He Hit 2026 NHL Free Agency?

Michigan State forward and unsigned Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Isaac Howard is the 2025 Hobey Baker winner.

Howard took home college hockey’s top individual honor over fellow finalists Zeev Buium (Univ. of Denver) and Ryan Leonard (Boston College). All three players easily could have won the award as college hockey’s version of the Heisman, but it was Howard who will take home the trophy. 

The Lightning prospect has been one of the most exciting players in college hockey for a couple of seasons now, but he took his game to another level this year. After transferring to Michigan State last season and rebounding after a rough freshman campaign, Howard’s junior season was simply phenomenal. 

He finished fifth in scoring nationally with 52 points, and his 26 goals were good for third best in the NCAA. Howard’s speed and skill were on full display from start to finish this season. He was Michigan State’s offense, finishing 21 points ahead of second on the team. He was the MVP of his squad in the truest sense. 

The No. 31 overall draft pick in 2022 has done just about everything he could have imagined at the college level. It was expected he would leave Michigan State for the pro game. 

After a quiet period after MSU’s exit from the NCAA tournament, it was announced that Isaac Howard would return to school after not agreeing on an entry-level deal with Tampa Bay.

It seems like negotiations fell apart, and Tampa Bay reportedly decided not to sign the eventual Hobey Baker winner. The Lightning are preparing for the playoffs and looking to get back to making the deep runs they are used to doing, which may mean they weren’t looking to incorporate a rookie this late in the process, despite Howard being able to help provide some depth scoring in all likelihood. 

“I just feel like with me and Tampa, I guess we didn’t see eye to eye the same way I thought we would,” Leonard said on the Spittin Chiclets podcast. “It wasn’t a situation where I was demanding to step right into the NHL, it wasn’t anything like that... It just didn’t necessarily work out, and coming back to Michigan State is unreal.”

While this means he will return to MSU, where he will look to not only repeat as Hobey Baker winner but also make a run at the national title, the unexpected development has led to some speculation that Howard could test the market next summer. His rights with the Lightning expire on Aug. 15, 2026. 

If Howard was left with a sour taste in his mouth because of this process and elects not to sign in Tampa Bay, the Lightning would lose their best prospect from a pipeline that doesn’t feature very many high-caliber talents. 

This could mean that next summer, Howard could be one of the hottest commodities in hockey, coming into the NHL as a proven college scorer and a winner at just about every level. At just 22 years old next summer, he will provide a youthful injection of talent to a squad that could use it desperately. 

Tampa Bay’s acquisitions of Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand likely ended Howard’s chances of joining the lineup this season, but he said before he wasn’t asking to step right into the NHL. That means he’d be happy to finish the year in Syracuse with the AHL’s Crunch. 

That pro experience could have been a building block for what Howard needs to work on this summer in preparation for what would have been his first pro season next year. Instead, he will focus on chasing down a national championship in college and cementing himself in MSU history books. Howard seems to be excited about the prospect of going back to college, even if he was expecting to turn pro. 

The Hobey Baker winner will have some added motivation in the fall, whether or not he decides to sign in Tampa or wait out his rights expiration and sign elsewhere. One thing is for sure: we should expect to see Howard back in the running for the NCAA’s top individual honor again next season.

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