Vegas Golden Knights center Brett Howden (21) warms up for his team debut before a game against the St. Louis Blues at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021.
Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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The Golden Knights’ Brett Howden admitted he knew nothing about Las Vegas before he was traded here.
Like many others, he knew it was hot — just not this hot. And he also didn’t realize the winters got colder than he expected, even though it’s nothing compared with the icy winters of his native Winnipeg.
A former first-round pick, Howden entered the NHL as a 20-year-old with lots of promise. But he has yet to live up to expectation, compelling the Rangers to move on and deal him to Vegas this summer for a mid-round pick.
Now with the Golden Knights, Howden is looking to jump-start his career in the way so many of the team’s acquisitions have in the past.
“You don’t really envision yourself getting traded at all,” Howden said. “You try to envision yourself with one team, but the reality of it is that’s most likely not going to happen, and trades happen. It’s a business.
“When I found out it was Vegas, I was even more excited about the trade.”
When Howden arrived here, he was joined by a friend in a similar situation. On the same day the Golden Knights acquired Howden from the Rangers, they also swung a deal to grab Nolan Patrick from the Flyers, reuniting two longtime friends.
Both from the Winnipeg area, they grew up playing together before going head-to-head in the Western Hockey League — Howden with Moose Jaw and Patrick with Brandon — before they rejoined the same summer league teams. Howden is a year older and was a first-round pick of the Lightning a year before Patrick was taken second-overall by the Flyers.
It helps a new guy get situated when a childhood friend is in a similar spot. Howden and Patrick chatted right after their trades as the excitement for a new life in Vegas started to bloom.
“It helped feeling comfortable around somebody,” Howden said. “I knew a few guys that were already on the team, but obviously coming here with Nolan made it a little bit easier, then within the first day everyone made it so easy. It was really easy to get comfortable around here and feel at home.”
Howden suffered an injury in training camp, keeping him out of the team’s first two games. He made his team debut at the start of the last homestand and has played in a fourth-line role the past three outings.
He hasn’t made a scoring impact, with no points and just two shots on goal, but the Golden Knights have high hopes for him. It’s why they went out and spent a fourth-round pick to get him, something they’ve done in the past with promising results.
Adding players whose former teams were willing to let go has been a staple of the Golden Knights and their success over the last four seasons. The most obvious example is William Karlsson, who went from a 25-point player with the Blue Jackets to a 43-goal scorer his first season in Vegas. Chandler Stephenson was a similar case with 33 points in five seasons with the Capitals to surpassing that last season alone with the Golden Knights.
Sometimes all it takes is a reset, and going to an organization that believes in you enough to give up assets to bring you in.
“It helps you kind of just play. Fresh start, clean slate, just be you as much as you can,” Stephenson said. “When I came over, it was a lot of excitement. The atmosphere, the fans, the energy, the guys and it’s been great ever since. For (Howden and Patrick), I know they’re really enjoying it. I don’t think anybody has anything bad to say about this place.”
Can Howden replicate that?
It’s not impossible. He’s played fewer seasons in the NHL than both Karlsson and Stephenson at the times of their trades and is less established, as coach Pete DeBoer pointed out, showing it might not be a perfect parallel. He did, though, have more NHL games played than Stephenson at the time of his trade and just five fewer than Karlsson, so it’s not like he a fresh-faced rookie.
“That’s the hope, is that they (Howden and Patrick) both blossom here,” DeBoer said. “But I think they’re both a full step behind where those two guys (Karlsson and Stephenson) were when they showed up here.”
And Karlsson and Stephenson both came to town and were almost immediately given top-six minutes in a scoring role. That’s not where Vegas has Howden, at least for now. He’s lined up on the fourth line for his first three games, playing alongside a combination of William Carrier, Mattias Janmark and Jake Leschyshyn.
The Oilers game on Friday saw Howden centering Carrier and Janmark, one of the most offensive-minded fourth lines Vegas has iced in quite awhile. That line was bound to change after the offseason trade of Ryan Reaves, and Howden appears to be a key part of it.
“He’s a first-rounder, he’s got some good skills, he can play,” Carrier said. “(Reaves) is not (Howden) and (Howden)’s not (Reaves) right? They’re different but we’re trying to play the same way, we’re just trying to play fast. You see it with teams that go deep in the playoffs. That fourth line needs to produce a couple of goals and those big goals in those big minutes.”
Howden had been to Las Vegas just twice before his trade, both road games while playing with the Rangers. He’s settled into the kind of lifestyle so many locals enjoy, with a nice combination of work in the suburbs (practice) and the occasional jaunt to the Strip (games).
Oh, and the golf isn’t too bad either. Howden is a valley resident now and a Golden Knights player, and he’s happy to be both.
“My first time here was playing here and all I knew was the Strip,” he said with a chuckle. “To be able to be out here and see everything else it’s pretty amazing.”
