Ryan Gurevitz
January 31st 2022
We knew it was coming, but somehow it still caught us off guard.
After months of speculation surrounding the inevitable, former captain Bo Horvat was dealt to the New York Islanders yesterday just days after the Canucks extended winger Andrei Kuzmenko for two years. Horvat was as good as gone when the Canucks opted to extend JT Miller last offseason for 7 years at an average annual value of $8 Million. The remaining optimism that a deal could be done was reduced significantly over this contract year as Horvat drove his asking price through the roof by scoring at a rate that puts him among the league's best. The final nail in the coffin was the Kuzmenko extension, which will allocate $5.5 million of cap space to the Russian winger for the next two seasons. Once Kuzmenko's extension was inked, GM Patrik Allvin sealed Horvat's fate for him by guaranteeing that they would not be able to afford an extension for their captain.
Horvat was dealt just 5 days later to the Islanders for 25-year-old forward Anthony Beauvillier, 20-year-old prospect Aatu Raty, and a top-12 protected first-round pick in the 2023 draft which would become a 2024 first-round pick if it lands in the top 12 this year.
Horvat provides the Islanders with the same scoring touch and two-way abilities he possessed in Vancouver, and will surely become one of their most important players in their hunt for the playoffs. While nothing is confirmed yet, the Islanders will surely look to extend Horvat before July 1st so that he avoids free agency.
The Canucks get Anthony Beauvillier as the main roster piece of the return, the 25-year-old winger has 9 goals and 20 points in 49 games this season, and will carry a $4.15 million cap hit for the next two seasons. A former first-round pick in 2015, Beauvillier played a crucial role in the Islanders' past conference final run in 2021, scoring an overtime goal to send the series against Tampa Bay to game 7.
20-year-old Aatu Raty also joins the Canucks organization as part of this deal, once hailed as the phenom of the 2021 NHL draft, a poor draft year in Finland allowed him to slide into the second round, where the Islanders nabbed him with the 52nd pick. While he has not found NHL form just yet, he seems to be developing nicely in the AHL and could be an impactful player not so far in the future. Raty will report to AHL Abbotsford presumably for the rest of the season, where he may get the chance to play alongside youngsters Vasili Podkolzin and Nils Hoglander.
Ultimately, as much as it hurts seeing our captain leave, he was as good as gone when the front office elected to extend JT Miller rather than move him last offseason. The return Allvin managed for Horvat appears to be beneficial for a team looking to tear down and provide their core players with younger supplemental pieces. Canucks fans have rarely been treated to multiple first-round picks in the same draft in recent history, and there are few better drafts to have that luxury than this upcoming one. Raty is a welcome addition to the Canucks depleted prospect pool, and Beauvillier will make a fine impact as a middle-six winger for the next two seasons.
As for replacing Horvat as captain, the best option in my opinion is Elias Pettersson, a young core forward who cannot realistically be replaced shortly. While I cannot see the Canucks naming a new captain this season, I hope that next October the "C" is emblazoned on the same jersey that dons #40.