Former Canucks Captain Bo Horvat Is On Pace To Shatter His Career Goal-Scoring Averages

It has officially been three years since the Vancouver Canucks traded former captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders for a first-round pick and forwards Anthony Beauvillier and Aatu Räty. Since arriving on Long Island, Horvat has been the Islanders’ most consistent scorer — though this season, it seems like the forward has hit another level. 

Horvat took some time to develop at the NHL level after making his debut on November 4, 2014 against the Colorado Avalanche. He scored 13 goals in his first NHL season, though his scoring rate began to increase with every season that passed. Horvat’s rate of average goals per game per season went from 0.191 in 2014–15, to 0.195 in 2015–16, and then to 0.247 in 2016–17. Part of this was caused by an increase in shots per game, which saw Horvat go from an average of 1.368 per game in 2014–15 to 1.95 in 2016–17. 

The biggest jump in terms of goals per game for Horvat came in 2017–18, in which he went from his 2016–17 average of 0.247 to 0.344. Horvat put more shots on goal as well with 158 in 64 games played, which averages out to 2.469 shots per game. Since that season, Horvat’s average goals per game each season has not dipped below 0.3, while his average shots per game total each season has not dropped below 2.3. 

From the 2018–19 season to 2020–21, Horvat’s goal averages remained at a steady pace of around 0.32 per game, with the final season of this time frame clocking in at 0.339. Not included in this is Horvat’s explosive 10-goal playoff run in 2020, a post-season career-high that he still has yet to break. 2021–22 was when Horvat’s goal-scoring output reached a new level for the Canucks, with the forward setting a new career-high at the time with 31. This brought his goals per game average up by 0.1 to a season total of 0.443. It wasn’t until Horvat was traded to the Islanders that this average decreased. 

Up until this year, no season came anywhere close to the career-highs that Horvat set in 2022–23. His overall average goals per game throughout both his time with the Canucks and the Islanders during this season was 0.481. However, the stats behind this average were inflated by the success Horvat had with Vancouver during this season. His 31 goals in 49 games with the Canucks in 2022–23 average out to 0.653 goals per game, a massive surge compared to his seven goals in 30 games with New York. While he didn’t quite hit the three shots per game average on the season, he came close with both teams — 2.918 with the Canucks and 2.867 with the Islanders. 

After 30 games with the Islanders in 2022–23, Horvat seemed to find his groove again, putting up 33 goals in 81 games for a goals per game pace of a little over 0.4. The part of his game that did see some extra growth compared to his time in Vancouver was his shooting average, as he has been averaging three shots or more per game each year since his first full season with the Islanders. He registered an average of 3.062 shots per game in 2023–24, three per game in 2024–25, and is currently on pace for 3.25 in 2025–26. Prior to the injury he sustained in December, Horvat was on pace to finish top-five in the NHL in scoring — something that likely factored into his naming to Canada’s 2026 Winter Olympic roster. 

To say the Canucks miss Horvat is an understatement. In a time that has seen the Canucks greatly suffer from a lack of centre depth, watching Horvat succeed with the Islanders is an experience wrought with ‘what ifs’ for the team currently sitting at 32nd in the NHL. The forward went through some dark times as a member of the Canucks organization, enduring rebuilds that weren’t quite titled as rebuilds at the time. Even so, the parting of ways between Horvat and the Canucks is long in the past — now, Vancouver will look to find the next anchor of their next youth movement. 

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