Revisiting The Canucks Decision To Trade Bo Horvat Two Years Later
Bo Horvat was traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Islanders on January 30, 2023.
On January 30, 2023, the Vancouver Canucks made a franchise-altering decision. In what was GM Patrik Allvin's first major move with the organization, the Canucks traded captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty and a 2023 conditional first-round pick. Fast forward two years later, there is still a debate on this trade and whether or not Vancouver moved the right player.
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Before talking about the present, we need to look back on the circumstances surrounding this trade. Heading into the 2023 trade deadline, it was clear the Canucks were going to make a significant move and were exploring deals surrounding Horvat and J.T. Miller. While Horvat was headed for unrestricted free agency, Miller had re-signed with the organization during the 2022 offseason, but his new contract didn't kick in until the 2023-24 campaign.
Signing Miller over Horvat was already a controversial decision. Horvat had been with the organization his entire career and, as mentioned, was the team captain. Despite this, management felt that Miller was more valuable in the long term, electing to sign the former New York Rangers center to a seven-year, $56 million contract.
In order to analyze this trade properly, it needs to be broken down into two parts. The first is the package that came back to Vancouver. To recap, the Canucks received Beauvillier, Räty and a 2023 conditional first-round pick in return for Horvat.
At the moment, the only part of this trade left in the organization from this Räty. Beauvillier was traded less than a year later to the Chicago Blackhawks, while the first-round pick was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings in the Filip Hronek trade. In short, Vancouver used Horvat to get a young center in Räty, a top-two defenceman in Hronek, and a few prospects who were selected in the last two drafts.
From an asset perspective, this is a positive return for the Canucks only because they were able to flip the pick for Hronek. While Räty has a lot of potential, he hasn't become a full-time NHLer, while Horvat has already recorded 122 points in 159 games with his new team. While he is still a young player with a long career ahead of him, Vancouver will not have won the trade from an asset perspective unless Räty can start producing in the NHL.
The other part of this trade that needs to be examined is the impact it had on the locker room. According to multiple interviews, including one by Jim Rutherford, there has been a rift between Miller and Elias Pettersson for years. This rift even extended to Horvat, who, based on accounts from media members and people in the locker room, would butt heads with Miller from a leadership perspective.
While it is a fair guess by management at the time that a Miller-Pettersson rift would have been solved by now, the fact of the matter is it hasn't. This rift has blown up publicly and is now being pointed to as one of the reasons the Canucks have struggled this season. Yes, the two have gotten along to an extent in the past, but two years later, the organization is back where it started and is now trying to trade one or both of its top two centers.
Locker room chemistry always needs to be considered when determining which team won a trade. Bringing in the right player or trading the wrong one can mess with chemistry and eventually result in turmoil surrounding the organization. In the case of the Horvat trade, Vancouver clearly made the wrong decision, as the locker room issues remain two years later.
Based on what has happened over the last two years, it is easy to say that the Canucks made the wrong decision in trading Horvat. Despite the organization having success over the past two years, which includes a trip to Game 7 of the second round last season, they are back to where they started and could be on the verge of multiple significant trades. While it is hard to predict exactly what would have happened if there had been a different decision in 2023, based on the information available, the decision to move Horvat could be one the organization regrets for years to come.
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