Canucks "deep in the process" of Horvat trade: report
The Vancouver Canucks are inching closer to the seemingly inevitable Bo Horvat trade.
With Vancouver and their captain having found themselves in trade rumours over the last month and a half since reports first rose about him rejecting the team’s long-term contract offer, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman seems to think the Canucks have started to weed down the potential suitors for Horvat.
“I think they’re deep in the process. And I think the trade comes down to… do the Canucks get an offer they like?” Friedman told Don Taylor and Rick Dhaliwal on the Donnie and Dhali show on CHEK TV earlier today.
Friedman mentioned the Detroit Red Wings, Seattle Kraken, Boston Bruins, and New York Islanders as possible suitors for Horvat.
“I don’t like to put words in anybody’s mouth because I think it’s a dangerous thing to do, but I’m gonna bet that Horvat would like this to be over sooner rather than later,” Friedman added. “And, look, I do think the Canucks are out there soliciting and saying, ‘Okay, what is everyone willing to do here?'”
Horvat has a career-high 31 goals as well as 23 assists in 49 games this season for Vancouver.
In the final year of a six-year, $33 million deal with Vancouver, Horvat is set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer for the first time, unless he’s able to strike a long-term deal in Vancouver or with another franchise that trades for him.
“Bo Horvat has been a Canuck for a long time. He’s been a captain here,” Canucks GM Patrik Allvin told Dan Riccio and Sat Shah on Canucks Central on Friday after meeting with Horvat’s agent Pat Morris earlier in the week. “He put himself in a position here to be a UFA this summer, which means he can dictate where he wants to play, obviously the contract he wants to sign. I believe from our side, we believe we put a good offer on the table for Bo.”
However, Dhaliwal doesn’t think there was much when it comes to Allvin and Morris’ meeting in terms of a contract extension for Horvat.