Welcome Matt: How Bo Horvat trade is working out for Canucks so far

Mar 11 2023, 12:28 am

sekeres and price

Nearly six weeks later, both teams can claim victory.

The Vancouver Canucks and New York Islanders kicked off trade deadline season with the Bo Horvat blockbuster, and the early returns are positive for both sides.

The Islanders improved to 10-3-3 since the trade with a 4-3 overtime victory over Pittsburgh last night. They are 6-1-1 since Coquitlam’s Mathew Barzal, Horvat’s linemate, left the lineup with injury, and 3-0 since fellow centreman Jean-Gabriel Pageau got hurt.

New York has strengthened its hold on an Eastern Conference wild card spot, and while Horvat isn’t lighting the lamp like he did in Vancouver, the Isles are outscoring, out-chancing, and outshooting their opponents when Bo is on the ice.

On Vancouver’s side, winger Anthony Beauvillier has been a revelation. He’s skating with Elias Pettersson and giving the Canucks first-line production while playing 18:40 per night.

Beauvillier has 13 points in 15 games with six goals and two game-winners, outpacing Horvat’s eight points in 15 games as an Islander. Pettersson has 23 points since Horvat left, and is playing some of the best hockey we’ve seen from him with Beauvillier on his right flank.

The rest of the Horvat deal is where it gets more complicated.

Canucks GM Patrik Allvin said he felt he acquired three first-round picks in explaining the deal.

One of those picks now belongs to Detroit for an injured Filip Hronek. And given the Islanders’ run, that first-rounder will likely be conveyed to the Red Wings this year and fall somewhere in the late-teens or early-20s. Canucks fans probably won’t have to sweat an unprotected 2024 first-round pick sliding into the Wings’ hands.

The other would-be first-round pick, forward Aatu Räty, who has just three assists in 11 AHL games with Abbotsford and didn’t make an impact in his Canucks debut. He’s still just 20 years old with loads of runway ahead of him.

But with the Canucks gaining a top-six forward and top-four defenceman in the deal (not to mention a lottery ticket prospect), and the Islanders emerging as the top wild card in the East, both teams feel like winners and can claim that with their fans.

Matthew SekeresMatthew Sekeres

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