The 2023 NHL trade deadline is still over a month away, but the New York Islanders have made quite the splash.
On Monday, the Vancouver Canucks traded forward Bo Horvat to the Islanders in a pretty surprising afternoon deal. The move comes just over a week after the Canucks fired Bruce Boudreau and brought in Rick Tocchet as their new head coach. This teardown of the Canucks has been coming for some time, as Horvat was one of the major pieces on the trade block in Vancouver as the trade deadline approaches.
Let’s break down the NHL’s biggest trade of the 2022-23 season thus far, shall we?
The details
While Horvat is the biggest name on this list, the Islanders had to pay pretty handsomely to get him.
- Islanders get: F Bo Horvat
- Canucks get: F Anthony Beauvillier, F Aatu Raty, 2023 first round pick (top-12 protected)
And that’s it! But was this worth it for the Islanders?
New York Islanders
Islanders grade: C-
The biggest stipulation with Horvat is that he’s set to be a free agent this summer, coming off a six-year, $33 million deal signed with the Canucks in 2017. The fact that the Islanders announced this trade but didn’t mention an extension for Horvat is… worrying, to say the least.
Horvat is a great player — with 31 goals and 54 points in 49 games this season — who will certainly add much-needed offense in the short term. That being said, will it be enough to move the needle on the Islanders playoff hopes? Right now, the Islanders have 12 percent odds to make the playoffs (according to MoneyPuck) as they sit three points out of a wild card spot.
It feels like it’s going to take a lot more than Horvat to get the job done here for the Islanders. As of right now, Horvat is a rental that came at the cost of two middle-of-the-road players and an all-important first round pick. I, personally, don’t see the logic in the Islanders being buyers, but we’ll find out if Horvat was worth the price soon enough.
Vancouver Canucks
Canucks grade: C
The Canucks were always going to get disappointing returns on any of their players, considering the absolute chaos the organization has wrought upon itself. It’s a real shame the Canucks couldn’t find a way to keep their actually good players, but the writing was on the wall after management absolutely destroyed their salary cap with terrible signings.
Beauvillier (nine goals and 20 points) and Raty (two goals as a rookie) are just… fine. We know what Beauvillier is (a 18-20 goal scorer at best) and Raty has room to grow after being the 52nd overall pick in 2021. Getting a first-round pick out of Lou Lamoriello automatically makes this a win for the Canucks in my book, even if this trade overall is quite uninspiring for both sides.
Still, someone has to win this trade — because content, baby! — so early returns say Canucks, by a hair.
