The Los Angeles Kings should be aggressive this offseason and that doesn't mean adding players who can just help them next season. They should also have their focus to the future and one of the ways to help would be trading with the Tampa Bay Lightning for Isaac Howard.
Howard was a first-round pick by the Lightning in the 2022 NHL Draft, but this week Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois indicated that the team is unlikely to sign him to an entry-level contract. According to league rules, a team can hold a player's rights for four seasons, but with Howard electing to return to Michigan State for his senior year, he can become an unrestricted free agent.
This would mean that the Lightning would lose their first round pick with nothing return. However, they do have the option to trade his rights and if they go that route, the Los Angeles Kings should absolutely be interested.
Isaac Howard would bring a dynamic goal-scorer to the Los Angeles Kings system
This past season with the Michigan State Spartans, he had 26 goals in 37 games and showed how good he was as a goal-scorer. The Kings have some players, like Liam Greentree, who can score at that level, but not much past him in terms of prospects.
If the Kings could add him for a third-round pick this year or even a second-round pick in next year's NHL Draft, it seems like a no-brainer trade. This wouldn't be the first time the Kings have traded for a player's rights either as they worked out a deal for Erik Portillo with the Buffalo Sabres a few years ago.
That trade looks like it will work out well as Portillo should be the backup goalie next season to Darcy Kuemper before competing for the starting job the season after that.
With the LA Kings set to pick in the back of the first half of the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft and with no second -round pick, a trade for Isaac Howard could be an easy way to add a talented player to their prospect pipeline that could make an impact sooner rather than later.