Insider Says Lightning’s ‘Arrogance’ Foiled Isaac Howard Trade to Oilers

Oilers' offer for Isaac Howard rebuffed by Lightning

We know the Edmonton Oilers had been working on a trade to try to land unsigned top prospect Isaac Howard from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Insider Frank Seravalli has revealed the Oilers' offer, and has gone so far as to label the Bolts 'arrogant' in denying Edmonton's pitch.

Speaking on Edmonton Sports 1440 with Kevin Karius (h/t David Staples of the Edmonton Journal), Seravalli says the Lightning think they can do better than the Oilers' offer of a first-round pick.

There’s many people around the league that thought that the Oilers were getting Isaac Howard. I think even people close to Isaac Howard thought that he was going to Edmonton.
I don’t know exactly what the Tampa Bay Lightning are thinking. The Oilers, to my understanding, had told Tampa that they that they could and would do a late first round pick in exchange for Howard’s rights. And that apparently wasn’t good enough.
Again, there’s a clock ticking to this. If they lose Howard’s rights, if he doesn’t sign next August, they’re going to get...the last pick of the second round compensatory pick. So you if you’re (Lightning GM) Julian BriseBois, while you want to do a lot better than that, right? And I don’t know why a late first—because that’s what Howard was to begin with—doesn’t just square you off and make you whole. But it seems like the arrogance of the Tampa Bay Lightning are what’s gotten in the way with this player.

And while it's true that the 21-year-old Howard was the 31st overall pick in the 2022 Draft by Tampa Bay, he boosted his prospect status this past year, winning the Hobey Baker Award as the top college hockey player in the U.S. He registered 26 goals and 26 assists for 52 points in 37 games for Michigan State, while recording a +19 rating.

And Staples points to stats analyst Rono's latest assessment of the potential of Howard:

If Edmonton really acquires Isaac Howard, that should extend Oilers' window for winning the Stanley Cup until like 2033. McDavid, Draisaitl, Howard, Savoie sounds very good to me. If both Howard & Savoie will be at least legit TOP6 wingers during their prime years of course.
— Rono (@RonoAnalyst) July 2, 2025

The hockey analytics expert wrote that Howard should be a top-six winger in his prime, "at least", and "If Edmonton really acquires Isaac Howard, that should extend Oilers' window for winning the Stanley Cup until like 2033."

Is a late-first-round pick good enough to land him? Obviously, per Seravalli, the Lightning don't currently think so. But Seravalli adds that Howard's value in a trade dwindles the closer to that August 2026 date of complete free agency nears.

The young prospect remains on the insider's list of top trade prospects this summer.