NHL Draft profiles: Howe plays 'rat-style hockey'

This is the 11th story in a series of player profiles from the NHL's Scouting Combine in Buffalo, N.Y., focusing on potential second-round picks for the Penguins at 44th and 46th overall.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Tanner Howe tries to model his game after a number of current and former NHL forwards.

Howe used to look up to Patrice Bergeron before Bergeron retired, admiring his strong 200-foot play and the trust that his coaches had in him. In today's NHL, he tries to emulate players like Brad Marchand, Matthew Tkachuk, and Brendan Gallagher, admiring "their competitiveness, how hard they work each night," along with their physicality.

"Rat-style hockey," was what Howe called it at the NHL's Scouting Combine earlier this month.

Howe, 18, is a forward from the WHL's Regina Pats who will be drafted later this month in Las Vegas. And if a team is looking for their own "rat" who brings playmaking abilities and a scoring touch along with it, Howe might be their guy.

"I think I'm a strong 200-foot player," Howe said. "I think I play a lot bigger than I look. I get in on the forecheck, good with my stick. I like when the puck is on my stick, I make pretty good plays."

Howe has OK size at 5 foot 10 and 184 pounds. He's a left-handed shot who can play both center and either wing, and plays on both the power play and penalty-kill.

Howe had a solid 2022-23 season -- he tied for 13th in the league in scoring and ranked third on Regina with 85 points (36 goals, 49 assists) in 67 games. But those numbers come with a big asterisk: His linemate was Connor Bedard, who led the league in scoring by nearly 40 points, putting up 71 goals and 72 assists in 57 games. He's a generational talent. 

With Bedard turning pro and Regina immediately entering a rebuild, Howe had a chance to squash any notion that he was in any way a product of Bedard. He did just that, scoring 77 points (28 goals, 49 assists) in 68 games, despite the Pats falling from a contender to the worst team in the Eastern Conference from one season to the next.

That's not to say that Howe didn't benefit from playing with Bedard, of course.

"You can see that he learned from watching and playing with (Bedard)," said NHL Central Scouting's John Williams told NHL.com of Howe early in the season. "He's improved his skating over the past couple of seasons and he can play with speed and pace. He also brings some grit, can go to the net with purpose and is difficult to deny."

Pats head coach Brad Herauf told NHL.com that Howe plays "pro-style hockey."

"However people view Brad Marchand is what I see in (Howe)," Herauf said. "He's a guy that's got that fire, that competitiveness in his game. There's not many checks he won't finish, yet he's got that offensive touch to play up and down a lineup, in the top six. He has that scoring and playmaking ability to play with elite players."

Howe was the player wearing No. 43 in white in this clip from Regina's season finale against Moose Jaw, taking down a Warriors player that started a brawl that ended with a goalie fight:

Howe pointed to his skating as the biggest area of his game he hopes to improve, saying that "once I get quicker, once I get more explosive, get on the edges, I think that'll help me out a lot."

Howe met with 21 teams at the combine, and the Penguins were one of them. He called it a "pretty neat and smart" meeting with the way the Penguins had him break down his own game footage for them.

There's a pretty good chance Howe will be available when the Penguins pick 44th and 46th on the second day of the draft. The Elite Prospects consolidated ranking, which takes all the major ranking services and averages them out, has Howe ranked 44th. Many of the individual ranking services agree that Howe is a mid-second-round pick: Daily Faceoff (43rd), FC Hockey (45th), FloHockey (46th), Dobber Prospects (46th) and Elite Prospects (49th). 

There's a lot to like about Howe. He's versatile and can play any forward position, has shown an ability to complement high-end talent, and brings an edge.

Howe also only has one more season in the WHL before he'll be eligible to play in the AHL. The NHL-CHL transfer agreement keeps players ineligible for the minor leagues until they are 20 or play four junior seasons (minimum of 25 games played each season) -- otherwise, their options are the NHL full-time are back to junior. Most players being drafted out of junior are 18 and coming off their second season at that level, making it so that they'll need to spend two more years in junior before being eligible to break into the AHL. Howe debuted in Regina as a 15-year-old, and this was his third full WHL season, all well over the 25-game minimum. Assuming he plays in at least 25 games this coming season, it will be his fourth WHL season, making him eligible for AHL time starting in 2025-26, rather than 2026-27 like many of the junior players of this draft class.

Howe's "rat-style" of play makes him appealing. And for a team like the Penguins who need these prospects sooner rather than later, that gives him an extra boost.