Livescore
While the trade deadline is more than a month away, the Canucks wasted no time moving Bo Horvat out of Vancouver, trading their pending free-agent captain to the Islanders on Monday night.
In return, New York sent Vancouver forward Anthony Beauvillier, forward prospect Aatu Räty and a conditional first-round pick in 2023.
Horvat is in the middle of a career year, recording 31 goals and 54 points in just 49 games. In addition, he is one of the league’s best faceoff men, ranking toward the top of the NHL in win percentage. With the Islanders currently just outside the playoff picture, he gives the team an added offensive boost.
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The Sporting News gives out grades to the Islanders and Canucks for the Horvat trade.
Bo Horvat trade grades
- Islanders receive: F Bo Horvat
- Canucks receive: F Anthony Beauvillier, F Aatu Räty, 2023 conditional 1st-round pick
Islanders: C
In the short term, this trade makes sense for the Islanders. The team desperately needs scoring, with New York ranking in the bottom quarter of the league in goals per game. No one on the Islanders has hit 20 goals or 50 points yet in 2022-23 and what better way to fix that than by bringing in a guy with 30+ goals so far this year and 50+ points?
Horvat’s style of play will fit in seamlessly with the Islanders’ system. He’s a strong two-way player and is great in the faceoff dot. There shouldn’t be much concern for him to adjust to head coach Lane Lambert’s structure.
But let’s take a step back here and look at how Horvat fits in long term and what the Islanders gave up to acquire him.
First, the Islanders have to re-sign him. They absolutely have to. They gave up their top prospect and a first-round pick, while they are in a position where they may not make the playoffs this season. If somehow Horvat is not signed long-term and he’s strictly a rental, this is a massive failure on Lamoriello’s part.
Now, let’s say Horvat does get an extension and it’s around the $8 million that’s been reported that Horvat’s camp is asking for. The Islanders just gave Mat Barzal an eight-year, $73.2 million extension earlier this year, locking in their No. 1 center. That’s a lot of money tied to centers when New York still desperately needs a scoring winger.
Looking long-term, the Islanders also likely now own the worst prospect pool out of the league. The team’s up-and-coming options are slim in quality and quantity as is, and Räty was their top prospect. With him out the door, there are few promising draftees on Long Island.
To make matters worse, the Islanders are looking at the potential of not drafting in the first round for the fourth consecutive draft. It’s hard to bolster your prospect pool when you don’t have high picks.
Canucks: B-
The Canucks were able to get something for an asset that was going to be gone for free this summer. That’s a win no matter what, and the move is the first in what president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford previously called “major surgery” needed for the roster.
But Vancouver was limited in its options. With teams knowing that Horvat was not going to re-sign, it made it hard for the Canucks to play hardball in trade negotiations. A player ranking in the top 10 in goals and top 25 in points this year likely should have been worth more in a deal.
With that said, the Canucks were able to receive a decent package from the Islanders with Beauvillier, Räty and the conditional first.
Beauvillier is an offense-first kind of winger. He doesn’t take care of his own zone as much as other forwards, which made him stick out like a sore thumb at times in the Islanders’ system that focused so much on defensive play.
His play has dropped off in the last two seasons. Beauvillier scored 12 goals last year and has only nine goals so far in 2022-23. He has never recorded a 40-point season in his career. That’s simply not good enough for someone drafted in the first round for their scoring ability.
At 25 years old, Beauvillier has a chance to turn things around in Vancouver. But the real player to watch will be Räty.
The Finnish forward is an intriguing prospect. At one point in time, he was discussed in the same breath as Owen Power, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. However, a major drop-off in his draft year resulted in Räty sliding all the way to the second round, where the Islanders took him with the 52nd pick.
Räty is a play-driver on offense. He has good size, and speed and has shown already that he can fit in at the NHL level, making his NHL debut earlier this year. The Canucks have one of the weaker prospect pools, so adding Räty immediately helps them in that department.
In 12 games played with New York, Räty totaled two goals in a bottom-six role. I would expect him to become a solid middle-six option in the league. GM Patrik Allvin said the plan is for Räty to head down to the AHL and play for the Abbotsford Canucks, so Canucks fans may not see their prospect play until next fall.
The first-round pick, even with the top-12 protection for the Islanders, is a good asset to have. Given where New York is in the standings, the Islanders’ pick likely will end up somewhere in the middle of the first round.
That’s a better option to have than if the Canucks traded Horvat to a legit contender and ended up with a late first-rounder.
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