When the Islanders acquired forward JG Pageau on February 24th, 2020, it didn’t take long to get the pending unrestricted free agent to sign an extension as he agreed to a 6 year $30 million deal the same day as the transaction.
And now fast forward to Monday when the Islanders acquired All-Star forward Bo Horvat from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty and a conditional first-round pick in this year’s draft.
But the difference here is that, at the moment, Horvat has not agreed to an extension.
“Nothing has been discussed of yet,” said Horvat during a Zoom call with reporters on Monday night. “This all happened so fast. No talk on that yet. We’ll see if we can get something done.”
Horvat immediately makes the Islanders better and fills an offensive need that they have been lacking all season. The now former Canucks captain is in the middle of a career season with 31 goals and 23 assists for 54 points in 49 games. He excels on both ends of the ice and should give the Islanders an immediate boost in multiple areas.
“He brings a two-way game used in all situations,” said Islanders President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello. “His face-off prowess is well known throughout the National Hockey League and his power play success.”
Horvat, who found out about the trade while on vacation with his family in Disneyland, is certainly saying all of the right things.
“I’m really excited,” said Horvat. “I heard a lot of unbelievable things about the organization. I’m really looking forward to it and my family is looking forward to it. I want to help this team out the best as possible any way I can.”
It’s clear that Vancouver had not been the happiest place on early this season.
During the summer, Horvat held out hope that his future would be in Vancouver, but in the midst of what has been a turbulent season for the Canucks franchise including the firing of head coach Bruce Boudreau, come over to the Islanders gives Horvat a chance to endear himself to a new organization and a fan based starved for a championship.
“I thought I was going to be a Canuck for life,” said Horvat. “Things didn’t work out that way and it led me to this. I’m grateful that the New York Islanders believe in me and I’m proud to be a New York Islander now. I can’t wait.”
Horvat will have to wait until after the all-star break to play a game for the Islanders who return to action Monday night against the Flyers in Philadelphia. That does give both sides a bit of time to try and hammer out a deal before Horvat to don an Islanders jersey for the first time, but as of Monday night, those negotiations had not started.
“We really haven’t had any discussions yet,” said Lamoriello.
“But I feel confident that whenever you make a transaction like this, you make it for a player that feel has character and knows what a team gives up and certainly feels comfortable in the organization he’s in. I think all of that he’ll recognize quickly and hopefully we’ll get that done.”
This could turn out to be another Pageau situation if Horvat signs an extension, but there have been situations in the past where the Islanders acquired a player who decided not to stay on Long Island.
At the 2007 trading deadline, the Islanders acquired Ryan Smyth from Edmonton but they couldn’t get him to sign an extension and he signed with Colorado that off-season.
Early in the 2013-14 season, the Islanders shipped popular forward Matt Moulson to Buffalo in a deal that brought back Thomas Vanek. The Islanders couldn’t get Vanek to agree to a long-term deal and he was subsequently shipped to Montreal at the 2014 trade deadline.
On the flip side, Johnny Boychuck and Nick Leddy were acquired right before the start of the 2014-15 campaign and later that season they each signed seven-year extensions.
Now the Islanders have the opportunity to sell Horvat on the team, the organization, the fan base, UBS Arena, and Long Island.
“I think it’s important to do it as soon as possible and we’ll work at it and do the best we can,” said Lamoriello. “We’ll do everything we can to get it done.”
While the Islanders will try to get to work on getting Horvat to sign an extension, the immediate goal is to get him comfortable with his new surroundings and help the Islanders get on a run. At this moment, the Islanders are two points out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Horvat is expected to give the Islanders a big boost.
“I’m going to try to do whatever I can to help,” said Horvat. “I think I can definitely add that two-way element where you can put me out in any key situation, take a big face-off or at the end of the game scoring a big goal or at least helping on it. I think I can add that to this group given the opportunity and I’m going to try my best to do that.”
And beyond this season?
Well, that’s still up in the air but it sure sounds like this trade was made with the feeling that Horvat would be a long-term Islander and not just a rental.
“This is something that we feel improved our hockey team today and tomorrow,” said Lamoriello. “We’re dealing with a 27-year-old player in his prime. In my opinion, he makes us a better team and gives us a better opportunity to get what we want to do.”
That means helping the Islanders get into the playoffs and contend for a Stanley Cup. But regardless of what happens this season, the Islanders gave up a lot to get Horvat and the best-case scenario would be to get him signed to an extension.
Islanders Country has their collective fingers crossed because they’ve been down this road before with both positive and negative results.