{"id":265944,"date":"2026-04-13T18:47:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T18:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265944\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T18:47:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T18:47:36","slug":"oilers-recall-forward-isaac-howard-from-ahl-amidst-playoff-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265944\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers Recall Forward Isaac Howard from AHL Amidst Playoff Push"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> recalled promising young forward Isaac Howard from their American Hockey League (AHL<\/a>) affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, on Sunday, April 12, 2026. This move comes as the Oilers near the end of the regular season and prepare for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, compounded by a recent injury to power forward Max Jones.<\/p>\n

Howard, 22, has been a standout performer in his first professional season with the Condors, registering 22 goals and 47 points in 45 games, according to Sportsnet. He has also played 28 games with Edmonton this season, scoring two goals and five points, with his last NHL<\/a> appearance on January 24.<\/p>\n

The decision to recall Howard was prompted by an injury to Max Jones during Edmonton’s loss to Los Angeles on Saturday. Jones did not return to the game, creating a potential opening for Howard, who has been in excellent form, averaging a point per game over the last eight weeks in the AHL.<\/p>\n

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\"Caufield<\/p>\n

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Analyst Ryan Holt from the Condors highlighted Howard’s impressive rookie campaign, noting he is among the top five in goals and scoring for rookies despite playing significantly fewer games. Sportsnet’s Jack Michaels suggested Howard or Owen Michaels could be options for the upcoming game against Colorado, especially with Zach Hyman’s status uncertain.<\/p>\n

Howard, originally drafted 31st overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2022 NHL Draft, was acquired by the Oilers in a trade for Sam O’Reilly. He was recently ranked the No. 1 prospect in the Oilers’ system by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, recognized for his strong potential as a scoring forward at the NHL level.<\/p>\n

While Howard started the 2025-26 season in the NHL, he was reassigned to the AHL in November after scoring only three points in 17 games, as reported by prohockeyrumors.com. The move aimed to boost his confidence and refine his scoring touch, which proved successful with six points in his first three AHL contests.<\/p>\n

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\"Canucks<\/p>\n

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Cult of Hockey contributor Ira Cooper expressed satisfaction with the organization’s decision to call up players like Howard, Jarventie, Hutson, and Hamblin, who have earned NHL opportunities. Cooper emphasized the importance of rewarding performance from the AHL system over simply slotting players like Owen Michaels into the lineup based on AHL ineligibility.<\/p>\n

The Oilers clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday after the Winnipeg Jets lost to the Philadelphia Flyers. Howard’s recall provides additional depth and a potential offensive boost as the team navigates the final games of the regular season and prepares for its playoff run, particularly given Jones’s injury. It remains to be seen if he can secure a regular spot for the postseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers recalled promising young forward Isaac Howard from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Bakersfield…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3853,151,3855,153,152,2070,34634,116301,404],"class_list":{"0":"post-265944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-ahl","9":"tag-bakersfield","10":"tag-bakersfield-condors","11":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","12":"tag-bakersfield-news","13":"tag-edmonton-oilers","14":"tag-isaac-howard","15":"tag-max-jones-injury","16":"tag-nhl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}