3&Out: A quick look at Michigan State's top newcomers, including 1st Round pick Isaac Howard

East Lansing, Mich. – Nine freshmen and five transfers will be transitioning into the Michigan State hockey program this off-season as Adam Nightingale gets revved up for his second season as head coach of the Spartans.

Of the new arrivals, three players stand out above the rest in terms of their chances to make an immediate impact. The three include a top six forward, a top four defenseman and a starting goaltender. One is a transfer, and the other two are incoming freshmen.

* Isaac Howard (5-11, 182, LW/RW, Hudson, Wis.) comes to Michigan State out of the transfer portal after one season at Minnesota-Duluth. Howard, who played for Nightingale at the USA National Team Development Program for two seasons, gives the Spartans their first NHL first round draft pick since 2008, when Daultan Leveille was drafted by Atlanta 29th overall prior to coming to MSU. 

Howard, 19, was selected 31st by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2022 Draft, after an 82 point campaign in Plymouth with the NTDP. 

Howard uses his body positioning and exceptional skating to get shots off from tons of angles. Howard is a pure scorer who can create for himself, something MSU has not had in a long time, relying usually on guys who can finish off a passing play, but struggling to fight through double teams (think how Mitchell Lewandowski could be shut down). 

* Maxim Strbak (6-2, 188, Kosice, Slovakia) is a defenseman who comes to the Spartans after one season in the USHL, and playing in multiple World Championships with Slovakia at the U20 and U18 level. Strbak, 18, will hear his name in this upcoming NHL Draft (likely second or third round) and will push right away for top minutes in all situations. 

Strbak plays with a physical presence, closing down on players in the d-zone aggressively and swiftly. In the offensive zone, Strbak has a quick release on his shot that is accurate to finding his spots from the point. He will continue the trend of Michigan State having a dynamic D, joining Matt Basgall and David Gucciardi with a higher ceiling. 

He had previously been committed to Vermont. He picked Michigan State over Vermont, Minnesota, Michigan, Boston University and others.

* Trey Augustine (6-1, 185, G, South Lyon, Mich.) will come in and instantly be the guy for Michigan State. You don’t flip your commitment from Michigan to Michigan State to sit the bench as a freshman. Especially when you are coming off being the starter for the U20 USA team as a 17 year old at the World Junior Championships, before leading the US to a U18 gold later in the spring. 

To me, Augustine is the best NTDP goaltender since Spencer Knight. And Knight played 33 games as a freshman at Boston College, so don’t act like this is a QB, where you say a freshman can’t come in and play right away. 

Augustine, 18, will control the net from day 1 and only relinquish it when he is away with Team USA for World Juniors when his Spartan teammates are playing in the the GLI. 

Augustine is ranked the No. 3 goaltender by NHL Central Scouting for the 2023 NHL Draft. He will likely be off the board in the first three rounds.

He plays perfectly positionally, with plus reflexes and instincts. The only thing keeping Augustine out of the first round guaranteed realm is that he is 6’1″ and not 6’4″. MSU has a great one and he won’t be here four years, so enjoy it now.

As we look towards Aug. 1, when the top 2007 born players will start to commit, there are some names to watch from the Little Caesers program just down the road. The LC’s 2007 core group has been together mostly for two or three years, and has been a powerhouse program, being favorites to win Nationals each season, and running through Michigan Amateur Hockey Association state playoffs pretty easily each year. 

The headliner is probably Will Horcoff, son of Michigan State alum Shawn Horcoff. Will Horcoff had 173 points in 80 games this season for Little Caesars’ 15u team in AAA. Horcoff, of Birmingham, Mich., has been heavily recruited by Michigan and Michigan State and, prior to the arrival of Nightingale, was definitely a Michigan lean. He will play for the USA NTDP next year.

We will have to see if the Spartans can close this one. If On3 had a hockey prediction I would be logging 90 percent confidence ratings for Horcoff’s teammates Gavin Lock, a F from Plymouth, Mich., and Aidan Janz, a F from Northville, Mich. Lock and Janz had 91 and 87 points respectively this season, each have visited Michigan State multiple times, and are extremely pro-Spartan athletics on social media. Expect these two to wrap up early and be the start of the class. 

(Jeremy Dewar is a long-time observer of Michigan State hockey and has worked as a scout/advisor for recruitable college hockey prospects in the Great Lakes area since 2016).