The Canucks (20-26-3) trail the Colorado Avalanche by 14 points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and are looking to the future. So, they traded Horvat, who can become an unrestricted free agent after this season, to the Islanders for forwards Anthony Beauvillier and
Aatu Raty
and a conditional first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
All-Star Weekend will give Horvat a chance to put a bow on his nine seasons with Vancouver, which selected him with the No. 9 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, before beginning his next chapter with New York.
"They basically asked me if I still wanted to come and I said, 'Of course.' I wanted to come and enjoy the weekend," Horvat said. "Then, they just worked out the logistics after that."
Playing for the Pacific Division will give Horvat a final chance to play alongside Canucks center Elias Pettersson, his teammate the past five seasons.
"It's going to be fun and weird and awesome at the same time," Horvat said. "I don't really know how to approach it or how to talk about it, but I'm excited for it. I'm excited to skate with him on the same team for the last time, unless we join teams again later on in our careers."
Pettersson said the Islanders are getting a player who can help them in all areas. Horvat has 54 points, including an NHL career-high 31 goals, in 49 games this season. He led Vancouver with 11 power-play goals and won 56 percent of his face-offs.
"He'll be the same player as he's been for us," Pettersson said. "Just hard work. He's good in the face-off dots. Obviously, this year he showed he can score goals from anywhere."
The Islanders can use the help offensively; New York is 25th in the NHL in scoring 2.85 goals per game and last on the power play at 15.5 percent. Horvat also will bring valuable leadership after serving as Canucks captain since the start of the 2019-20 season.
"I just met Bo for the first time, actually," Islanders forward and fellow All-Star Brock Nelson said. "I'm familiar with him and his game and he's going to bring a huge element to our team up front, depth scoring. He does a little bit of everything. He kills penalties], power play, 5-on-5, so he's going to be a huge part of our team, and that's a big move for us."
***[RELATED: [Horvat says Pettersson should be next Canucks captain | Complete All-Star coverage]*
Horvat is still adjusting to idea of being traded and his new jersey number (14). He wore 53 with Vancouver, but that number is taken in New York by forward Casey Cizikas. Horvat said he picked No. 14 with help from his wife.
"The best way I can describe it is 4-plus-1 is 5, and 4-minus-1 is 3," Horvat said. "So, that's what I'm going with."
Horvat signed his first Islanders jersey with the No. 14 on Thursday.
"Somebody had a Horvat Islander jersey for the first time, and I had to really concentrate to write 14 instead of 53 today," he said.
Horvat is expected to make his Islanders debut at the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday. He's looking forward to that, but said he knows it will be a different experience.
"I'm so nervous. Really, I am," Horvat said. "It's a city I don't know a ton about yet, obviously, and I know a couple of the guys, but just meeting all of the new players and getting used to the new systems and just everything, the culture there, it's really nerve-wracking.
"I'm not going to lie. I've never been traded before. This is different for me, but I'm really excited about it."
Horvat said he wants to focus on the rest of the season but reiterated he's willing to discuss a contract with the Islanders. General manager Lou Lamoriello said Monday it is a priority to try to re-sign Horvat quickly.
"I haven't thought about that much in depth lately," Horvat said. "I'm going to leave that up (agent) Pat Morris and Lou to handle, but I have a lot of respect for the organization, and I've heard great things about the city. I obviously don't know much about it yet, but it definitely interests me."
