Earlier this month, Josh Ho-Sang was called up to the New York Islanders after spending significant time in the AHL. Is the maligned but talented forward a logical trade target for a rebuilding team?
On the afternoon of Sunday, December ninth, the New York Islanders called up forward Josh Ho-Sang. He spent the beginning of this season in the AHL, playing 26 games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The forward was originally drafted number 28 overall in the 2014 entry draft but has yet to find a footing at the NHL level.
In those 26 games this season, Ho-Sang scored two goals and recorded 20 assists for a total of 22 points.
Since being called up to the NHL earlier this month, he has only played in one game, the Islanders’ contest against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, December 15th. In 14 shifts, Ho-Sang recorded two shots and had a total of 12 minutes and 24 seconds on ice.
With big-name forwards Andrew Ladd and Tom Kuhnhackl currently injured, he could be getting some more ice time with his NHL club. As his sample size grows, he may be worth watching for a number of teams in the league, one of them being the New York Rangers.
The forward’s development thus far was stunted through a series of issues between him and the organization. Although a lot of the “attitude issues,” attributed to Ho-Sang are related to his flamboyant style of play and feeling that he was super talented, there are small things that linger.
The fact that Ho-Sang was late to the first day of Islanders training camp as a rookie is not necessarily an off the ice or attitude issue, but it’s a sign of him not taking things as seriously as he should. These aren’t necessarily deal breakers, Tyler Seguin has found a pretty fruitful NHL career despite early issues when it came to time management.
The slow arch of Ho-Sang’s development may make him a player that the Islanders would be willing to cut their losses on. With the right team, his obvious talent may be better utilized and less held down. The Islanders have failed to put him in a position to succeed thus far and it’s why he was in Bridgeport last season while the NHL team was one of the worst in the entire league.
We took a look at what he has done so far, what could be expected of him in the future. Finally, we ask the question, would it be worth it for the Rangers to acquire him?
(All statistics via Josh Ho-Sang’s Elite Prospects Page)
Career Thus Far in Minor Leagues
Josh Ho-Sang began his professional hockey career during the 2011-2012 season with the Toronto Marlboros Minor Midget AAA team of the GTMMHL. In 30 games there, he scored 31 goals and 48 assists, resulting in 79 points.
The following season, he played for the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL, appearing in 63 games. The forward recorded 44 points in the form of 14 goals and 30 assists.
He spent a little over one more season with the Spitfires, playing in a total of 78 games and recording 35 goals and 69 assists for 104 points. After just 11 games with Windsor during the 2014-2015 season, Ho-Sang was sent to the Niagara Ice Dogs in exchange for power forward Hayden McCool (currently playing for Ryerson University) as well as second-round draft selections in 2016, 2017, and 2019.
In 49 games with Niagara for the rest of that season, Ho-Sang notched 14 goals and 48 assists, making 62 points altogether. He spent one more year with the Ice Dogs before aging out of the OHL, recording 19 goals and 63 assists for 82 points in 66 games.
He then moved on to the AHL, where he had 36 points (10 goals and 26 assists) in 50 games. The following year, he had eight goals and 23 assists for 31 points in 50 games, which brings us up to present day.
Career Thus Far in NHL
Though, as mentioned earlier, Josh Ho-Sang has spent most of his time on minor league teams, he has gotten a few nods from his organization’s NHL team, the New York Islanders. They picked him 28th overall at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
In a draft class filled with talented players like Aaron Ekblad, Leon Draisaitl, and William Nylander, it was obvious that Ho-Sang would need to prove himself. He appeared in his first NHL game during the 2016-2017 season, eventually playing in 21 matchups that year.
In that short span of time, the forward recorded four goals and six assists, totaling 10 points. In 22 games with the NHL club in 2017-2018, he notched two goals and 10 assists for 12 points.
He also cleaned up his style of playing as time went on, recording 12 penalty minutes in his first stint with the Islanders and just two in his second. In his only NHL game so far this season, he had no PIM.
It seems like he will be up with the Islanders for a substantial period of time, which will give him that opportunity he’s been craving to make a permanent jump from the AHL to the NHL, and to build on his NHL point total.
Would it Make Sense?
Josh Ho-Sang is definitely a unique type of player. He grabs the viewer’s attention with his speed and offensive instincts, one of the most popular ways that the NHL gains fans.
His ability to handle the puck in the opposing team’s zone with the ease and comfort level of a player with way more experience sets him apart from other forwards his age. The area that the 22-year-old needs the most improvement in is making plays outside of the offensive zone.
This is something that will obviously come with more time up in the NHL, and the hard work he is putting in definitely helps. Since he is so young, any team would be entering into a low-risk/high (potential) reward situation if they chose to inquire about him.
As for the New York Rangers, they might want to keep an eye on him. Their youngest right-wing on the NHL roster at the moment is Pavel Buchnevich, who looks as if he will be staying for a while.
The other two are Mats Zuccarello, who will most likely be traded sooner rather than later, and Jesper Fast, who is basically a non-factor. With 2018 ninth overall pick Vitali Kravtsov developing into a potentially amazing NHL player, and Ty Ronning making his way up in the system as well, the team isn’t exactly at a shortage for right-wings.
Taking a chance on Josh Ho-Sang probably wouldn’t hurt the team at all. In fact, he’d most likely be a very beneficial addition to the squad.
However, if current, more talented members of the organization, like Buchnevich and Kravtsov were to suffer in order to get Ho-Sang more minutes, then it would be a loss.