On Monday afternoon, it was announced that the Vegas Golden Knights chose not to qualify restricted free agent forward Brett Howden, making it appear as though he was set to hit the free agent market. However, that may not be the case.
As first reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger, it is believed that Golden Knights management want to keep Howden around and that the two parties will finalize an agreement in the near future. This move was likely more due to the fact that Kelly McCrimmon and his staff were worried about how much money an arbitrator would potentially reward Howden with if they were to have qualified him.
Howden, 24, made big progress this past season, which happened to be his first as a Golden Knight. Despite playing in just 47 games, he tied his career high in goals with 9, while finishing just three shy of his career high in points with 20. While there are still areas of his game to be improved upon, he showed flashes as to why he was selected in the first-round (27 overall) by the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2016. Expect a new deal to be announced between himself and the Golden Knights in the next 24-48 hours.
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