Brett Howden may have a more permanent place to live now than he did during his hot streak to start the season, but he still doesn’t want to feel too comfortable.
The Rangers’ 20-year-old center has cooled off since his four goals and eight assists over the first 20 games of the season made for a nice welcome to the NHL. He has just two assists in the 12 games since then heading into Saturday’s clash against the Maple Leafs.
“He had a little bit of a dip,” coach David Quinn said Friday before the team flew to Toronto. “Probably the rookie wall in mid-November, late-November. You’re going to have those peaks and valleys when you’re 20 years old playing in the National Hockey League. The key is to, instead of having it be a 10-game stretch, make it be a five-game stretch or shorter. He certainly had a real good night the other night against Anaheim. Looking for him to build on that over the weekend.”
Howden provided a reminder of that talent with his assist Tuesday against the Ducks, snapping a quick pass back to Vladislav Namestnikov for a one-timer that started the Rangers’ third-period comeback in a 3-1 win.
The rookie has been a constant on the third line since he won the job in training camp, but the “dip” Quinn referred to has coincided with the Rangers’ own skid, a 3-5-3 stretch entering their weekend back-to-back before a short Christmas break.
“I think I’ve been playing well,” Howden said. “Obviously the point production was pretty good at the start but slowed down a bit. But I’m not too focused on that. I try to just play my game. There’s multiple things you can be doing. Our line has been getting chances and that’s all we’re trying to worry about. We’re not trying to look at the big picture.”
After getting back from a West Coast trip at the beginning of November, the Rangers told Howden he should get a place — as in, they had seen enough to believe he was going to stick with them the whole year. He appreciated the reassurance, but did not want to confuse it for being content with his play.
“Once I was told that, I don’t think anything changed,” said Howden, who now shares an apartment with defenseman Neal Pionk. “I wanted to keep playing my hardest. I still treat it as if every day is my last.”
Quinn said the timing of the decision took into account Howden’s body of work over the first month of the season and his consistency. They also wanted to see how he handled everything that comes with being an NHL player off the ice, which only backed up what they already thought about him.
Getting that vote of confidence can sometimes lead to a player getting too comfortable, but Quinn hasn’t seen it.
“We were pretty sure that wouldn’t happen to him,” Quinn said. “It didn’t, which didn’t surprise anybody.”
This time last year, Howden was getting ready to spend Christmas in Buffalo with Team Canada before the World Juniors started the next day. He’ll be hosting his family in New York City this time around, but first, he has more work to do on the ice.
“Obviously I feel a lot more comfortable and I feel like I do belong. I’m not second guessing myself, I feel confident,” Howden said. “But at the same time, I don’t want to get too comfortable or too complacent and take anything for granted. So there’s kind of that happy medium where I feel confident in myself but not overly where I’m too comfortable.”