Brett Howden is anxiously awaiting to hear his name called with the 2016 NHL Draft starting on Friday in Buffalo, New York.

Howden was selected fifth overall by the Moose Jaw Warriors in the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft and has enjoyed success early in his major junior career.

In his rookie season in 2014-15, he finished with 22 goals and 46 points in 68 games and was among the top rookie scorers in the league. Last year, he had 24 goals and 64 points in 68 games and added another four goals and 15 points in 10 playoff games.

Along the way, the Oakbank, Manitoba product has had plenty of memorable moments.

As an underage he won a bronze medal at the 2015 IIHF World Under-18 Championships in Switzerland; he was captain of Canada’s 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup team that captured gold; he took part in the 2016 NHL/CHL Top Prospects game; he was named one of Canada’s top three players at the 2016 IIHF World Under-18 Championships; he took part in the 2016 NHL Draft Combine; and most recently received an invitation to Hockey Canada’s World Junior Summer Development Camp in August.

Howden’s name popped up throughout last season in a number of NHL Draft rankings from a number of publications and just like his teammates Zach Sawchenko, Noah Gregor, and Brody Willms, he met with a number of NHL scouts and teams over the last year.

“It’s been a pretty long year, it’s been a lot of fun, and it’s been a cool experience,” he said. “It’s mentally challenging. Everybody has their own input on you and you have to let that slide pass and not worry about it. There’s going to be all these rankings and tons of stuff on social media that you can’t worry about or it will affect your game.

“I found that I did a pretty good job staying away from that,” he added. “Going through the Combine was a tiring week as well with all the meetings and the testing at the end. It’s definitely been a cool experience for me, Noah and Zach went through it all as well and we leaned on each other. It’s been a fun ride so far and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.”

Brett admits that he’s leaned on his family a lot for support while going through this process, including his brother Quinton, who was drafted 25th overall by Florida in 2010, and one piece of advice that he told Brett was to not get caught up in all the mock drafts and rankings because a lot can change on draft day.

“Honestly, he’s given me so many tips and so much advice. I think him just being there for me and being my resource with all the questions that I wonder about. Quinton being there for me is amazing, I think I definitely have an advantage over some guys in that scenario,” he said when talking about the impact that his brother has had.

“I’m always asking questions about different players, different things about the draft, about the Combine, and all these different situations,” he added. “When he’s telling me all these things I kind of get nervous but then it calms me down. Obviously my parents have been through it, my dad went through it with Quinton so he knows a lot to. I definitely have a lot of resources and a lot of people that have given me lots of advice, it helped me throughout the year and it’s brought me to this point and it’s been really great.”

Brett will have his family with him in Buffalo for the draft for support, but he’s also looking forward to sharing the experience of Draft Weekend with his teammates.

“When you look at some of the players and then the teams that they’re on they’re the only one from their team going through this but for us there’s four of us, it’s pretty amazing,” he said. “We lean on each other for advice and whenever there’s a meeting all four of us are going through it. It’s been real special for us and great for the organization.”

With an exciting weekend ahead of Howden where he’ll inch closer to his NHL dream, the 18-year-old is always looking ahead. He’ll have his first NHL Development Camp in early July and then that will be followed by his first World Junior Summer Development Camp later in the month. After that he admits that he’s anxious to get back to Moose Jaw and get on the ice at Mosaic Place.

“I was talking to Noah (Gregor) and Tanner (Jeannot) and we’re always talking about how excited we are to come back to Moose Jaw and we’re looking forward to another great season. We were looking at our team and we have such a strong team coming back,” he said.

“I sat down with Ryan Gardiner and (Assistant Coach) Mark O’Leary the other day, all three of us were excited about what’s coming ahead. With all the people that we’ve acquired on the team, it’s all looking good from here on out.”

The NHL Draft will be held at First Niagara Center in Buffalo on Friday and Saturday.

Warriors NHL Draft Previews:
- Sawchenko Hoping NHL Dreams Come True
- Gregor Worked Hard for Draft Moment
- Willms Excited for Draft Weekend