Sometimes every stride a hockey player skates can be a miracle on ice.

As a boy, Howden snapped his left femur so badly in a tricycle accident he spent two months in a full body cast. Doctors doubted he would ever be able to play sports. Howden did not just prove them wrong. He developed into a star hockey player blessed with speed and hands that would make him a first-round pick.

The Florida Panthers selected the Winnipeg-born forward with the No. 25 pick in the 2010 NHL Draft. While he did not jump into the NHL as the same kind of two-way star he was in junior hockey, Howden showcased the speed that made him a useful bottom six forward capable of playing a checking role and providing a spark of energy to his team.

Howden got his first taste of the NHL in a one-game cameo against the Flyers on Jan. 26, 2013, and played 18 games that season without scoring a point. He had decidedly more success when the Panthers recalled him in March 2014 for his second extended run in the NHL.

Howden scored his first NHL goal at the 5:50 mark of the first period of his first game that season, putting a puck past Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop. Howden would score a goal in three of his first four games as part of a four-game point streak that began 16-game run with the Panthers to end the season.

In 2015-16, Howden made an NHL roster out of training camp for the first time. He recorded his first multipoint game in the NHL on Oct. 20, 2015, scoring a goal and adding an assist against the eventual 2016 Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Mostly a fourth-line role player, Howden finished the season 20th in ice time on the team, but sixth with 116 hits.

After the 2015-16 season, the Panthers did not extend a qualifying offer to Howden and he signed a free agent contract with the Winnipeg Jets.