Islanders have talked to Canucks about potential Horvat trade: report
Will the New York Islanders and Vancouver Canucks complete a big trade together after all?
The Islanders and Canucks have had trade talks, according to Islanders beat writer Stefen Rosner of NYI Hockey Now, with Bo Horvat being the topic of discussion.
It looks like #Canucks captain Bo Horvat will be traded this season, and the #Isles are already hitting the ground running on trade talks.@NYIHockeyNow has learned that NYI has checked in on the 27-year-old centerman: https://t.co/SwxrkttuU8
— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) December 14, 2022
The Canucks had a scout at Tuesday’s Islanders game, Rosner adds, though there were 13 scouts in attendance.
The Islanders also won’t be the only team interested in Horvat.
A potential deal involving these two teams was all the buzz on draft day, perhaps involving J.T. Miller, but nothing materialized. The Isles instead traded their first-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens to get defenceman Alexander Romanov.
The Canucks “pivoted” their attention to signing Miller this summer, after being unable to agree to a new contract with Horvat, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
The Islanders are likely still interested in improving their forward group, which is largely unchanged from last season.
Horvat is on pace to score 59 goals this season. He’s also a key member of the Canucks’ power play, in the bumper spot.
The Islanders rank 15th in goals per game (3.17) and are 18th in power-play percentage (22.2%) heading into Thursday’s games.
With the seventh-lowest payroll in the NHL, the Islanders could fit Horvat under the cap without much difficulty. They currently have $3.8 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly.com, and that number is projected to grow to $10.9 million by the March 3 trade deadline.
What the Islanders could offer in return for Horvat is another discussion. They haven’t drafted in the first round in three straight years — would they be willing to trade their first-rounder again? That also means the Isles aren’t flush with prospects — EP Rinkside ranked their prospect pool 23rd out of 32 NHL teams.
They do have Aatu Räty, a 20-year-old Finnish centre drafted 52nd overall in 2021. The Isles’ top prospect has 11 points (5-6-11) in 21 AHL games this season. He scored 40 points (13-27-40) in 41 games playing pro hockey in Finland last season.
Rosner also mentioned a pair of former second-round pick defencemen: Samuel Bolduc (drafted in 2019) and Calle Odelius (2022). Bolduc, 22, has 20 points (4-16-20) in 25 AHL games this season. Odelius, 18, had four points (0-4-4) in 26 games playing second-division pro hockey in Sweden.
EP Rinkside prospects writer David St-Louis said in September that Räty and Odelius both had a “significant chance of outperforming their draft slots.”
The Canucks, needless to say, could use a defenceman or two in their prospect cupboard.
The Islanders, meanwhile, are reaching a make-or-break moment for their team. After consecutive trips to the Conference Final in 2020 and 2021, the Islanders missed the playoffs entirely last season. They’ve rebounded nicely this season, holding down a playoff spot.
But the Islanders are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, so the time is ticking.
The time is ticking for the Canucks, too, with the Horvat decision looming large.
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