Islanders Acquire Bo Horvat With All Parties Looking To What is Next
The New York Islanders were the first team to strike prior to the March 3rd Trade Deadline. General manager Lou Lamoriello acquired forward Bo Horvat from the Vancouver Canucks for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty, and a conditional 2023 first-round NHL Draft Pick.
Horvat is an unrestricted free agent that is earning $5.5 million this season. The Canucks will be paying 25 percent of his salary, so the Islanders only have to deal with a $4.125 million salary cap hit.
Prior to the trade, the Canucks did not let any teams talk to Horvat or his agent to talk extension. That is why a deal has not been announced yet. Unlike the Jean-Gabriel Pageau situation in 2020.
The Islanders acquire Pageau from the Senators at the deadline and immediately announced a six-year $30 million extension. So rest assured that Lamoriello’s next goal is to get Horvat signed.
Tom Gulitti of NHL.com: “I think it’s important to (start negotiations) as soon as possible and we’ll work at it and do the best we can,” Lamoriello said. “… We’ll do everything we can to get it done.”
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic: “This all happened so fast. No talks on that yet,” Horvat said. “Obviously, we’ll see if we can get something done, but we’ll leave it to Pat to handle that.”
According to Stefen Rosener of NYI Hockey Now and his sources, the Islanders are working hard on finalizing an extension with Horvat. The question will remain what does it look like?
According to CHECK’s Rick Dhaliwal, he believed back in December the starting point for the Canucks at the time was going the J.T. Miller extension, which carried an $8 million annual average value.
Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee each have a $7 million cap hit this year. However, Barzal’s new contract kicks in next season that carries a cap hit of $9.125 million. So with Horvat having a career season, currently with 54 points (31 goals and 23 assists), you have to expect he will get that type of number or maybe less.
We all know how Lamoriello operates with his own internal salary cap. However, Horvat is an upgrade offensively, and they need to get him signed to the extension. It would make sense if Lamoriello tries to get Horvat signed for under $8 million a season.
However, considering back-to-back 30-goal seasons, the Islanders will have to pay to keep this player long-term considering what Horvat knows he could get on the open market once July 1st hits.
It is doubtful he gets the same cap hit as Barzal, but considering what the Islanders gave up to get him, you have to think the number to keep him begins with an eight.
Ideally, they settle on a number like $8.5 million for an annual average value for a seven or eight-year contract extension. But again, Lamoriello keeps things tight inside his organization. He had to step and pay Barzal. He will have to do it again with Horvat.
This will be an interesting situation to watch as Lamoriello believes he can get the deal done with Bo Horvat and keep his team in the playoff race.