He suited up and played a total of nine minutes and 56 seconds of ice time and was providing solid play in the first period. However, as the Oilers were tied with the Avs in the late stages, Howard didn\u2019t see the ice much, not getting a shift in the last 14 minutes of the third period, plus overtime.<\/p>\n
The decision comes as the Oilers are starting to get healthy bodies back in the lineup. Zach Hyman will suit up tonight<\/a> against the Vancouver Canucks, and it\u2019s hoped that Leon Draisaitl can return early in the first round of the playoffs.The first-year pro in Howard has been an upper-echelon player in the American Hockey League this season. In fact, on Wednesday, the\u00a0former Hobey Baker Award winner was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team<\/a>, along with Condors teammate Quinn Hutson.<\/p>\n In 45 games in Bakersfield, Howard finished third on the Condors in goals with 22 and fourth in points with 47. His 1.04 points per game led all Bakersfield skaters and was 14th in the league amongst players with at least 40 games played.<\/p>\n That success hasn\u2019t quite been seen at the NHL level yet. Monday\u2019s contest against the Avalanche was his first NHL game since January, and he\u2019s played a total of 29 games with the Oilers in 2025-26. He\u2019s scored two goals for a total of five points.<\/p>\n Draisaitl has been ramping up at practice this week for a return, with\u00a0Oilersnation\u2019s Jason Gregor<\/a> saying that if the Oilers finish as the second or third seed, then Edmonton won\u2019t play until Monday. That could give even more time for a Draisaitl return.<\/p>\n Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said on Wednesday that Jason Dickinson will be evaluated again soon.<\/p>\n Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He\u2019s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.\u00a0<\/p>\n PRESENTED BY LeaseBusters![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776428667_742_image.webp\"\/)
LeaseBusters\u00a0is Canada\u2019s premier lease takeover marketplace, helping drivers get out of their current vehicle leases without costly penalties or negative equity. Instead of paying thousands to break a lease, sellers connect with qualified buyers ready to take it over\u2014saving money and avoiding financial stress. Buyers benefit from shorter-term commitments and often better monthly payments, while dealerships retain a replacement customer and leasing companies keep contracts active. It\u2019s a smarter, more efficient solution for everyone involved. Four parties, four wins\u2014only with LeaseBusters.\u00a0 For more information, check out\u00a0www.LeaseBusters.com.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Isaac Howard won\u2019t be sticking around long. The Edmonton Oilers announced on Thursday that Howard is headed back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-272529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272529","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=272529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}