The surprise out of camp, Brett Howden turned heads with his first month on the Rangers. Making the Rangers as a rookie 3C over Lias Andersson, Howden made an immediate impact with a line of 4-9-13 in the Blueshirts’ first 23 games. Howden then came crashing down to Earth, hard, scoring just twice over the rest of the season, finishing with a line of 6-17-23 in 66 games while averaging 15 minutes per game.
Howden struggled mightily, and by January many were wondering if it was time to send the kid back to the AHL.