The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Howe to a three-year, entry-level contract on July 10, 2024.

On November 21, 2024, Howe was traded 10 games into his fourth season (second as captain) with the Regina Pats to the Calgary Hitmen in the Western Hockey League. In December 2024, he was named to the Canada 2025 World Junior Championship team, where he played in five games and scored just one goal. Howe’s regular season numbers were nearly a point per game, with 46 points (18 goals and 28 assists) in 47 regular season games between Regina and Calgary.

Howe missed the end of the Hitmen’s 2025 postseason run due to his knee injury but still managed to post nine points (two goals and seven assists) in six games. He turns 20 in November and will look to play pro with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2025-26. But he’ll need to wait because Howe underwent ACL reconstruction surgery on his right knee in April 2025 and will need nine months of recovery time; he is expected to miss training camp and at least the first half of the 2025-26 campaign recovering from surgery.

June 2024 Howe was selected in the second round, 46th overall, by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2024 NHL Draft. Hadi Kalakeche

April 2024Tanner Howe’s Regina Pats were one of the worst teams in the WHL in 2024. Yet Howe still managed to have a productive season, though perhaps not giving him much room to showcase the upside that had him so highly ranked earlier in the year. Howe’s best—and most projectable—qualities are his abilities to play through contact as a smaller player, create offensive zone entries, play a possession game along the boards, and funnel to the net to bang in greasy goals. Howe showed flashes of dynamic playmaking and puckhandling upside, but even without these, Howe still projects as a dependable, tenacious middle-six winger with scoring upside. Luke Sweeney (April Rankings: 37th)