Howden: I Do Everything I Can to Help the Team Win

Gordie Clark, the Rangers' director of player personnel, remembers the first time he heard about Brett Howden.
It was prior to the 2010 NHL Draft when he and his staff were interviewing Quinton Howden, a projected first-round pick. As he often does, Clark asked the youngster if he had any siblings or relatives following in his footsteps.
"He said I've got a little brother coming up and he looks like he's going to be a pretty good player," Clark recalled.

Fast forward nearly eight years later, and that little brother isn't so little anymore, and the older brother's prediction has certainly come true.
The younger Howden has grown into a 6-foot-3, 200-pound center with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League, and on Monday became a New York Ranger as part of a deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Howden, 19, said he was caught off guard by the trade, but that was soon replaced by the excitement of joining an organization like the Rangers.
"I was a little shocked at first," Howden told NYRangers.com. "I wasn't expecting it. Tampa had a lot of prospects and everyone knew they were trying to go for it. I found out and I was really excited that it was New York. It's really exciting that I have a chance to be part of this rebuilding team."

While Clark and the Rangers were unable to select Howden at the 2016 draft when he was taken 27th overall, he knew he was a player to keep an eye on and that intuition hasn't been wrong.
"The kid has learned how to play the game," Clark said of Howden. "We always ask our scouts, once players are drafted, anybody we still think is an NHL player, our guys are required to follow them."
Howden has 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points in 39 games with Moose Jaw this season. He described himself a two-way center with offensive upside to his game.
"I think I can play well at both ends of the ice," he said. "I'm strong on faceoffs and I think I can read the play pretty well and a good hockey IQ. I try and find my teammates a lot and when I can, I put the puck in the net."
He's done plenty of that as a junior player with Moose Jaw, a team he's captained the last two seasons after wearing an 'A' in his second full season with the club. A year ago he finished with 38 goals in 58 games and a career-best 81 points, or 1.39 points per game. This season, the points per game has ticked up to 1.51.
"His marks have steadily moved up every year," Clark said.

Howden arguably saved his best performance for the biggest stage earlier this year at the 2018 World Junior Championship in Buffalo when he scored three goals and added four assists for seven points to help lead Canada to Gold.
"It was amazing," he said. "It's a really fun tournament. We got to win gold which makes it that much more special."
What makes those numbers even more special, according to Clark, was the way Howden's trio was deployed throughout the tournament.
"[Howden's line] was used in a defensive role, and yet they go out and score 10 even strength goals in that World Junior, which is pretty amazing," Clark said. "The other lines, the top two lines, are always on the power play scoring power play goals and all that."
That's par for the course for a player like Howden, who said he prides himself on being a team player and doing whatever he can to help his team succeed.
"That's one of the biggest things I try and implement in my game," he said. "I do everything I can to help the team win. It doesn't matter to me what role I'm playing."

With the Rangers plan of getting younger, faster and more skilled firmly in motion, the opportunities for players like Howden are endless according to assistant general manager Chris Drury.
"If I was a young player looking to make my mark in the league and with the Rangers, this is a heck of an opportunity," he said. "When you look at the pieces we traded away … that's a lot of ice time and opportunity for someone ready to step up and grab it."
Howden said that's exactly what he'll try and do next season.
"I think that's one of the cool things coming to the Rangers," he said. "There's going to be opportunity for a lot of the young guys. Everyone is going to get that opportunity, but it's up to you to make the most of it."