Harry Howell is a Rangers legend for many reasons, but creating offense is not one of them. It might seem odd to see Howell on this list, but when you consider the sheer volume of games he played for the team (more than anyone else) and that he always chipped in enough offense to be comfortably above replacement level, it all adds up. Only three Rangers defensemen (Ott Heller, Ron Greschner, and Brian Leetch) have compiled more adjusted points and goals created than Howell.
Howell and Andy Bathgate made their Rangers debut on the same night in 1952. Naturally, Howell scored a goal on his first shift and Bathgate went pointless for his first 14 games. Despite that quick goal, Howell’s focus during his 24-year playing career was squarely on being a reliable, sound defender. His style was to defend through positioning more than physicality. Howell said, “I was a big guy for the time I played…But I wasn’t the type of guy to go run people. I could take them out of the play, but I wasn’t going to skate 50 feet to hit someone.”1
His focus on defense first is particularly evident in his first 10 seasons, in which he never reached 30 adjusted points in a year. Howell’s scoring then suddenly took a sustained jump between 1962-63—1967-68, when he averaged 45 adjusted points a year. I really can not explain why Howell’s offense improved so much at that point in his career after it had been so pedestrian for so long. Howell did see more power play time later in his career than he did in the beginning, but the jump in offense seems to have started before he got more power play time. (Eight Rangers had more power play points in 1962-63.)
Howell’s offense peaked in 1966-67, and he was rewarded with the Norris Trophy after the season. Howell gave some of the credit to Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion for his career-high goal total that year: “…I was playing the point on the power play with Boomer. In the past, I had played with guys like Andy Bathgate and Rod Gilbert, who had big shots. I always fed them. But when I passed to Boomer, he’d send it back to me and say, ‘You shoot it.’ It was funny, because Boomer was one of the first guys to use the slap shot a lot.”2
Emile Francis was behind the bench at the end of Howell’s Rangers run and said, “Harry could do anything on the ice. He could play any way you wanted. When I coached him, I had him on the power play, killing penalties, and averaging more than 30 minutes a game at times.” Francis also made Howell a playing assistant coach for Howell’s last four seasons with the Blueshirts. Howell was a great mentor to young defensemen, including Brad Park who called Howell “one of my favorite people of all time.”3
The seemingly indestructible man was finally slowed a bit by back troubles in 1968-69, and Francis offered Howell an off-ice role with the team. But Harry wasn’t ready to quit, and requested he be moved to a different team instead. Howell played another seven years between the NHL and WHA before finally hanging up the skates in 1976. He stayed in the game as a GM, coach, and scout. His last gig was back in the Rangers organization as a scout between 2000—2004. Howell passed away in 2019.
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