Donnie & Dhali: Jeff Paterson on Donnie & Dhali on what Bo Horvat’s hot start to the season done for his contract asking price. (Interview before last night’s games)
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Dhaliwal: “Jeff, this heater that Bo Horvat’s on, we haven’t seen something like this in a while. 12 goals in 13 games. Only Connor McDavid has more with 14.
Couple of questions. Can he keep it up? How will this affect the contract? He’s in his UFA year. Lot to think about when it comes to Bo Horvat and Vancouver these days.
Paterson: “Yeah, and it’s incredible. For some guys, the weight of the whole contract thing would crush them and he’s using it as fuel, clearly. Goal scorers get paid in this league. We know that, and so, to see him with a dozen goals through 13 games. He had five at this time last year. He’s more than doubled his output in the early going. It’s just incredible to watch. A bunch of different ways.
I was thinking about the goal that he scored against Pittsburgh where he came roaring down the wing and it looked like he was going to pass and then snap. Early in his career people mocked his skating. He worked on his skating. I kind of get the feeling this guy has worked on his hands and his shooting. The Pittsburgh goal that I referenced was big-time stuff. But deflection goals, rebound goals, go into the traffic areas night.
When things are going your way, Rick, that first goal, Ethan Bear just throws it on net, it hits Horvat. Cam Talbot turns, thinks it’s over in the corner and instead for Horvat it bounces down to his feet, he’s able to bang in a rebound. You need some bounces.
And even if you think of Bo Horvat, he’s got a dozen goals. He could have considerably more. He’s had so many chances. It’s just not the goals he scoring. He’s putting himself in position. The puck seems to follow guys around when they get on these kinds of rolls.
And what’s it going to do for his contract? I was always of the belief that there was no way Bo Horvat, prior to this season a career-best 61 point guy, could get anything that remotely comes close to starting with an eight, and now I think all bets are off cause goal scorers get paid. Whether it’s in Vancouver or whether it’s elsewhere.
Is he a perfect player? No. He’s not a puck distributor. He’s not a playmaker. He doesn’t get up the guys around him but when the pucks on his stick, it’s finding the back of the net and that is a valuable skill and commodity to have right now.”