Bo Horvat is 28-years-old and is a 9 year NHL vet, spending almost all of his career up to this point with the Vancouver Canucks. Horvat was traded to the New York Islanders in exchange for Anthony Beauvillier and Aatu Raty along with a conditional 2023 first-round pick. Safe to say that Vancouver valued their center very highly and with that New York gave up a lot to acquire him.
On February 5th, Horvat signed an eight-year/$68M extension with the Islanders, which translates to a $8.5 AAV. Islanders’ GM Lou Lamoriello dubbed Horvat’s extension “too long and expensive” based on Horvat already being a seasoned vet in the league along with overall career stats.
Many Islanders fans feel that Bo Horvat hasn’t reached the peak of his abilities following his trade to the Big Apple post all-star break.
Horvat notched 7 goals and 9 assists in 30 games with New York. Prior to his trade he has among the league leaders with 31 goals in 49 games pre-trade. That 0.63 GPR was the best of his career which then featured a 0.23 GPG pace in New York.
Bo Horvat’s regression most likely was the cause of the trade and being moved around the league late in the season. The Islanders obviously believe in him and are invested long-term with the contract extension as a perfect example of their commitment. Due to the length of the contract we will have to wait to see whether it will pay off in the short or long-term.
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