How we got here
When the club decided not to extend Horvat in August, and instead consummate an eight-year, $56 million deal with JT Miller instead, from that point on, a split has been inevitable. The writing was on the wall for good once the club came to terms with Andrei Kuzmenko on a two-year, $11 million contract this past week.
Horvat is one of the NHL’s leading scorers this season, Vancouver’s captain and has been a tremendous player through some of the leanest years in franchise history. The club is going to miss his citizenship and his ability to log major matchup minutes, particularly given the club’s stated goal of remaining competitive. — Drance
What’s coming back from a Canucks perspective?
The players that the Canucks are netting in this trade are relatively low-upside pieces. Beauvilier is a hard-working, somewhat expensive middle-six caliber winger. He’s been widely available on the trade block dating back to this offseason. Beauvillier is a nice player. He’s got some speed and creativity, but he isn’t a top-line caliber contributor. He also plays a position at which the Canucks are loaded (both from a cap commitment and from a talent perspective). Raty is a high-pedigree 20-year-old center capable of playing a major NHL role right now.
For a team intent on transitioning the club for the present and future all at once, that’s an acquisition that makes a ton of sense. The knock on Raty is that he’s seen as a safe bet to be an impactful NHL player, but with only a marginal chance of developing into a star player.
Granted that’s something that was said about Horvat himself when he was 20 years old, but for a team that’s insisted they’re prioritizing young players, Raty seems like a relatively low-upside centerpiece for a Horvat trade. All of that said, Raty isn’t really the centerpiece of this deal. The prime asset the club has returned is the first-round pick — top-12 protected in 2023, according to The Athletic‘s Pierre LeBrun, which would convert to the 2024 draft class completely unprotected if it falls in the top-12 this season.
That’s the best part of this deal from a Canucks’ perspective, by far. They’ve bought a significant fade position on an Islanders team that’s aging, has limited cap flexibility and has only barely outperformed the Canucks themselves by point percentage over the past two seasons. That’s precisely the sort of chip the club should’ve prioritized landing in a Horvat trade. And they’ve done so. — Drance
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Why did the Islanders make this move?
Islanders GM Lamoriello has been taking heat from the fan base ever since he said early last summer that he would be exploring “hockey trades” to bolster the roster, yet did little. As a result, the team has suffered. The Islanders have been one of the league’s worst offensive teams this season, particularly lately, and have the NHL’s 31st-ranked power play as they begin their bye week/All-Star break.
Horvat will help, of course, and will immediately become the Islanders’ top-line center. What will be interesting to see is who lines up alongside him. Is it time, perhaps, to move Mathew Barzal to the wing, something that coach Lane Lambert has been tinkering with from time to time this season? This trade also signifies that Lamoriello still believes this core group can compete for a Stanley Cup this season despite their 10th-place standing in the Eastern Conference.
Raty was arguably their top prospect, and although his ceiling may be something along the lines of a third-line center, he made a good account of himself with two goals in his first 12 games this season. Beauvillier seemed to reach his ceiling already, and although he would put forth a strong game from time to time, can probably be viewed as a salary dump more than anything else. Surrendering the 2023 first-round pick was probably the most difficult to stomach for Lamoriello, even if it is top-12 protected, as the Islanders’ system is already thin.
Assuming they don’t get to keep that pick, the Islanders will have gone four straight years without taking a player in the first round. This is also the kind of move that Lamoriello probably doesn’t make unless he had some sort of assurance that Horvat, a pending free agent, would sign a contract extension. Perhaps that announcement is forthcoming. — Kurz
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Aatu Ratty scouting report
The Isles did well to mine value out of Raty. They took a chance on him in the second round of the draft after his stock plummeted. He bounced back with an excellent, point-per-game post-draft season in Liiga, made the move to North America at 19, made his NHL debut at 20, and has now turned into a tradable asset.
On the flip side, though, while he’s more of a B or B-plus prospect, his absence will be felt in an Islanders pool that was already among the thinnest in the NHL. He was their clear no. 1 prospect and should become an everyday NHL player. Raty’s a pro-sized forward with good skills of dexterity handling and transporting pucks, and has developed his skating so that he can play with more pace and interior drive. I don’t think he’s dynamic on the puck, nor the smartest player on the ice, but he’s a toolsy player who you’ll notice when he’s on. — Wheeler
What they’re saying
Horvat, on an Islanders media call, reiterated three times in three different answers that he thought he would be “a Canuck for life.” He added that he’s excited to be playing for the Islanders.
Lamoriello said on a media call he hasn’t had contract talks yet with Horvat’s camp but obviously hopes that’s something that will happen.
Lamoriello says it’s important to get going as soon as possible on contract talks with Horvat’s camp, that’s his hope https://t.co/mCaPtsOGjA
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 31, 2023
Required reading
(Photo: Rich Lam/Getty Images)
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