NHL Notebook: Oilers trade for Hobey Baker Award winner Isaac Howard

A trade! We have a trade! Huzzah!

On Tuesday night, the Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning swapped prospects, as the Oilers acquired Isaac Howard in exchange for winger Sam O’Reilly.

Howard put up 26 goals and 26 assists through 37 games played with Michigan State University en route to capturing the Hobey Baker Award, awarded annually to the top collegiate hockey player. The Lightning originally drafted the Hudson, Wisconsin native with the 31st overall pick of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

O’Reilly — the player going back to the Lightning — was the Oilers’ choice with the 32nd pick of the 2024 NHL Draft. As a member of the London Knights, O’Reilly has won back to back OHL Championships and added a Memorial Cup win in 2024-25 as well.

The Oilers view Howard as a win-now type of player, who at 21, is further along in his development than the 19-year-old O’Reilly. O’Reilly put up 28 goals and 43 assists through 62 regular season OHL games this past season, and added 22 more points through 17 playoff games.

Here is some of what our friends at OilersNation.com had to say about the trade.

In one sense of the term, the Oilers have accelerated the development of a prospect, and are now set to have two players on entry-level contracts in their opening day lineup, with the team expecting Matthew Savoie to make the jump to the NHL. That’s a game-changer for the Oilers, as both players can step into the NHL as players within their top-nine.

While Howard isn’t a big body standing at 5’11, 190 lbs., Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis said in January, “the sharpshooter looks as confident as ever with the puck, and he’s physically stronger, too.” That’s good news for the winger, as there will undoubtedly be a learning curve for him jumping from the college ranks to the NHL.

Earlier this week, we analyzed who was trending up and who was trending down in the Pacific Division. We had the Oilers as a team trending down, and while this might not necessarily change that, this move does certainly add an interesting wrinkle into our conversations about the back-to-back Stanley Cup finalists, whom the Canucks are sure to see a lot of next season.