The Vancouver Canucks have acquired Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty, and a 2023 protected first-round pick from the New York Islanders for captain Bo Horvat. After months of speculation and trade rumors, general manager Patrik Allvin announced the trade Monday afternoon amidst the team’s bye week and just before the 2023 NHL All-Star Game this weekend.
Horvat is having a career year offensively with 31 goals and 54 points so far. He comes to the Islanders in the final year of his contract which pays him $5.5 million and will be looking at either signing an extension or testing the market in a few months.
Horvat will certainly give a boost to the Islanders, who are struggling to score goals right now. He will slide in as their second-line center behind Mathew Barzal, play key minutes on both special teams and win a lot of faceoffs. After striking out on J.T. Miller at the 2022 Draft, and Johnny Gaudreau in free agency, general manager Lou Lamoriello finally got his man in the form of Horvat. Now, the question will be, will it be only for the playoff push and the postseason or for many seasons to come?
Horvat Era in Vancouver is Over
After re-signing Miller to a long-term extension last season and Andrei Kuzmenko to a two-year bridge deal last week, the Canucks simply had no money to re-sign their captain. Now, the Horvat era in Vancouver is over. Coming back in the deal is a package including a speedy winger in Beauvillier who is 25 years old, a top prospect in Raty – who was at one time considered a top-three pick at the 2021 Draft – and a first-round pick (either this year or 2024).
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Selected 28th overall in the 2015 Draft, Beauvillier has spent his entire career with the Islanders and has 102 goals and 209 points in 457 games. He isn’t the young center that Allvin and Rutherford were apparently asking for, but he will bring speed and adequate offensive pop to the lineup from the wing. According to THW’s Mike Fink, he needs a playmaking pivot to be at his best, so it will be interesting to see if Miller or Pettersson can be that for him. He is currently in the first year of a two-year contract worth $4.15 million in average annual value (AAV).
As for Raty, he was selected all the way down in the second round of the 2021 Draft and could eventually turn into what the Canucks just lost in Horvat. He made his NHL debut this season and has appeared in 12 games with the Islanders where he has two goals.
The writing was pretty much on the wall when Kuzmenko was re-signed that Horvat was going to be traded at some point. It’s interesting that it wasn’t closer to the deadline considering the number of offers that could have potentially come in as teams got more desperate. Time will tell if this deal was the right one.
Matthew Zator is the assistant managing editor at THW and a writer who lives and breathes Vancouver Canucks hockey, the NHL Draft, and prospects in general. He loves talking about young players and their potential. Matthew is a must-read for Canucks fans and fans of the NHL Draft and its prospects. For interview requests or content information, you can follow Matthew through his social media accounts which are listed under his photo at the conclusion of articles like this one about Tyler Motte.
Matthew also co-hosts The Hockey Writers Prospect Corner on YouTube.