Nothing but love for roommate lost to Jets
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/06/2019 (2356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Brett Howden will be looking for a new roommate this fall.
The New York centre says last week’s trade that sent defenceman Neal Pionk and a first-round pick (20th overall) to the Winnipeg Jets for blue-liner Jacob Trouba really hit home, literally.
“It’s pretty funny, actually. Neal was my roommate last year. I lost my buddy,” Howden said Sunday. “But the Jets are getting a really, really good player.”
Pionk fired six goals and added 20 assists in 73 games for the Rangers in his first full season in the NHL. At just 23, his upside is huge, said Howden, who doesn’t believe for a minute Winnipeg got fleeced in the deal.
“You guys are getting a really hard worker, a guy who competes night in, night out. He gives it everything he’s got, every shift,” he said. “He’s so skilled, he’s smart and he’s got a hard shot.”
The Jets recouped the first-round pick they swapped to the Rangers at the trade deadline for Kevin Hayes, an unrestricted free agent, using it to select Finnish defenceman Ville Heinola on Friday night in Vancouver at the 2019 NHL Draft.
Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff dealt Hayes to Philadelphia earlier this month, and the veteran centre has since inked a seven-year, US$49.98-million deal with the Flyers.
While Trouba is a welcome addition, another ex-Jet quickly endeared himself to the squad and its fervent supporters. Feisty forward Brendan Lemieux came over in the original Hayes deal in late February, registering three goals, six points and 44 penalty minutes in 19 games.
“I knew a little bit about (Lemieux) just because my older brother (Quinton) played with him with the (Manitoba) Moose and I watched some of those games. He’s a big fan favourite and we love having a guy like that who goes out and works hard, creating space for everyone else but yet he’s a skilled player,” Howden said. “(Lemieux) had a really good stretch when he got traded to us, and it was nice seeing him get more ice time.”
Quinton Howden, meanwhile, will head back to Belarus and suit up with Minsk Dynamo in the fall for a third consecutive winter. Florida’s first-round pick (25th overall) in 2010 played parts of five seasons with the Panthers organization before signing a one-year deal with Winnipeg in the summer of 2016. He potted 13 goals in 58 games for the Moose in 2016-17 before turning his attention overseas.
— Bell