MSU Hockey Gets Massive News for Next Season

Michigan State's best player will be staying in East Lansing.

Michigan State's Isaac Howard celebrates after his goal to win a shootout against Minnesota on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at Munn Arena in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Michigan State hockey had a bitter end to another unforgettable season, but things are looking up for the program going into next year.

According to multiple sources, Hobey Baker finalist Isaac Howard will return for his senior season.

It had seemed quite likely that after a sensational season, Howard, who was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft, would be moving on to the next level after three seasons at Michigan State.

Howard is currently one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, won the Big Ten Player of the Year Award, finished the season as the conference's scoring champion and was named the Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player.

He recorded 52 points (26 goals, 26 assists) on the year.

Sportsnet's Elliott Friedman was the first to report the news. He gave a little insight into the situation.

"[W]ord in NCAA circles is the team [Lightning] and Howard weren’t simpatico on where everything stood at this time," Friedman wrote. "We will see how things proceed from here, especially if other teams are interested."

Michigan State will now have back its two best players from last season: Howard and goaltender Trey Augustine, who will enter his third season with the program.

It was quite surprising that either of these NHL prospects decided to return for another year, let alone both.

But fans can breathe a sigh of relief after it had been looking like this program was going to have to endure a minor rebuild after putting together back-to-back Big Ten regular season and tournament title-winning seasons with national championship aspirations tied to both.

The program fell short in both campaigns, most recently when it was stunned as the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, falling to Cornell in the first round.

With Howard and Augustine back, the hope of still being able to go all the way remains.

Not to mention, the program is bringing in an impressive freshman class and also recently added a high-quality transfer in defenseman Colin Ralph.

The future is still bright for Michigan State hockey.

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