It’s been nearly two years since the Vancouver Canucks traded Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders.
The primary return in the trade was a first-round pick, which the Canucks flipped to the Detroit Red Wings along with a second-round pick for Filip Hronek. The Canucks also received prospect Aatu Räty and winger Anthony Beauvillier.
It was the second time that the Canucks traded their captain to the Islanders after Trevor Linden was sent to Long Island back in 1998, which turned out to be one of the most important trades in franchise history.
The Linden trade proved to be a lopsided deal. Linden played just one season with the Islanders before he was traded for a first-round pick that they used on defenceman Branislav Mezei, who played only 68 games for the Islanders.
The Canucks, meanwhile, got Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, and a third-round pick back from the Islanders. Bertuzzi became an All-Star for the Canucks as part of the West Coast Express. McCabe was a key component of the draft-day trades that netted the Canucks both Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Even the third-round pick was used on effective agitator Jarkko Ruutu.
So, the Canucks pretty clearly won the Linden trade. But what about the Horvat trade? Who won that deal?
It arguably depends on the criteria you use.
The Islanders got the best player in the trade
There are some who say that the winner of a trade is whoever got the best player. If that’s the case, the Islanders won the trade, as Bo Horvat is clearly still the best player involved in the deal.
There’s no argument: Horvat is definitely a better player than Aatu Räty and Anthony Beauvillier, the latter of whom was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for a fifth-round pick in what was essentially a cap dump.
Admittedly, that’s being a little bit facetious by excluding Filip Hronek, who technically wasn’t part of the trade return. The Canucks had to add a second-round pick to the first-round pick they received from the Islanders to get Hronek, after all.
But even including Hronek, Horvat is arguably still the best player in the deal. Horvat scored 33 goals for the Islanders last season and is their first-line centre, with a strong impact at both ends of the ice. It’s been a bit tougher this season with Mathew Barzal struggling and now injured, but Horvat is still one of the Islanders’ best players every night.
That said, it’s a little bit hard to quantify just how good Filip Hronek really is.
Hronek has a sweet gig riding shotgun with arguably the best defenceman in the NHL. There have been questions regarding whether Hronek can carry a defence pairing on his own but it’s hard to argue with the results: with Hronek at his side, Hughes won the Norris Trophy.
The Canucks split up Hronek and Hughes at the start of this year’s training camp but by the time the regular season rolled around, they were back on the top pairing together, which is what Hughes wanted all along.
“I'm always under the assumption that you don't fix what's not broken,” said Hughes. “Me and Fil were great last year — we were plus-40, the team was a goal away from going to the Conference Final. I haven't really talked to anyone about it.
“I love playing with Fil. I can play with Juulsen or [Tyler] Myers or whatnot — we've got a lot of good players to play with — but I fit best with Fil. You've seen that, the proof's in the pudding.”
So, the Islanders got a first-line centre and the Canucks got a top-pairing defenceman. If the Islanders got the best player, it’s by a pretty small margin.
The Canucks have struggled to replace Horvat
An argument against the Canucks winning the trade is that they still haven’t found a way to replace what Horvat brought to the team.
The Canucks shored up their centre depth by signing Teddy Blueger and Pius Suter in free agency, both of which have proven to be sharp moves; Blueger has been a solid third-line centre for the Canucks and Suter has been a Swiss army knife, capable of doing a little bit of everything.
But there’s a reason why the Canucks traded a first-round pick, Andrei Kuzmenko, and prospects Hunter Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo to the Calgary Flames to acquire Elias Lindholm. They wanted to have a centre who could contribute more offensively as they headed into the playoffs.
Lindholm was legitimately quite good in the playoffs, putting up 10 points in 13 games while centring a heavily-used third line between Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua.
But Lindholm left in free agency and Blueger is back to centring the third line. He’s been fine in that role, putting up 7 points in 14 games this season while playing a strong two-way game, so maybe he can continue in that role into the playoffs this time around.
The bigger area where the Canucks have missed Horvat is on the power play, where they have yet to find a fit for the bumper where he was so successful. The hope was that Jake DeBrusk would fill that role but he didn’t last long on the top power play unit to start the season.
As a result, the Canucks’ power play hasn’t been as successful as it arguably should be given the talent they have at their disposal. Where it hurt them the most was in the 2024 playoffs, when they went 5-for-36 on the power play for a success rate of 13.9% — the lowest of any team that reached the second round.
Then again, they reached the second round.
The Canucks have had the most team success
Perhaps the best argument for the Canucks winning the trade is what the team as a whole has done since.
While the Islanders squeaked into the playoffs in a wild card spot after acquiring Horvat in 2023, they were summarily knocked out in the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes in six games. Last season, they made the playoffs as the third seed in the Metropolitan Division and were again knocked out in the first round by the Hurricanes, this time in five games.
The Canucks, on the other hand, went out and won the Pacific Division last season, then defeated the Nashville Predators in six games in the first round and took the Cup-favourite Edmonton Oilers to seven games in the second round, all despite missing their Vezina-nominated goaltender.
That’s not a direct result of trading Horvat, by any means, but the trade still played a role, as Filip Hronek played a major role for the Canucks.
So, if team success is the criteria for assessing a trade, the Canucks won the deal.
The Aatu Räty of it all
Really, the Horvat trade seems to have shaped up to be a clear win-win for both teams. Both teams ended up with a quality player in a key position.
What might ultimately tip the scales in the Canucks favour is if Aatu Räty can take steps forward to becoming a real contributor.
Räty turned 22 on Thursday and has split the season so far between Vancouver and Abbotsford. In the AHL, he’s put up 7 points in 8 games, while he has just one assist in 7 games for the Canucks.
What Räty is doing right now is starting to carve out a role for himself as a fourth line centre. He’s been excellent in the faceoff circle, with a team-leading 61.9% success rate, but has yet to earn enough trust to be used on the penalty kill, leading to a team-low ice time of 9:59 per game.
There’s a strong possibility that when all of the Canucks forwards are healthy, Räty will end up sent back down to the AHL, with Pius Suter centring the fourth line. In other words, his spot in the NHL still isn’t secure.
There are glimmers, however, of a player who could someday fill the third-line centre role vacated by Horvat. He’s improved his skating and become stronger in board battles. The potential is there and while he hasn’t fully earned Rick Tocchet’s trust, he has earned his respect.
“His work ethic is outstanding. I’ve never seen a young kid work as hard as he is,” said Tocchet on Thursday. “There’s some parts of his game he’s got to [work on]. He wants to go so hard all the time that he’s got to slow the game down. That’s probably the only thing that he’s got to learn and that comes with experience and maturity.”
“His work ethic, it’s something you’ve got to bottle,” he added, “because that guy is the first guy on the ice, last one off the ice, so I’m really happy about his work ethic.”
Long-term, Räty could turn the trade into a bigger win for the Canucks.
