Former Canucks captain Bo Horvat named New York Islanders captain

There’s a new captain on Long Island.

On Monday morning, the New York Islanders announced that they had named former Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvat the 16th captain in Islanders history.

The Islanders captaincy became vacated after Anders Lee signed a three-year contract with the Utah Mammoth in free agency this past offseason. Most Islanders fans seemed to agree that Horvat was the right man to wear the “C” after Lee’s departure. Horvat has worn an “A” on his sweater as an alternate captain for the Islanders over the past two seasons.

Horvat originally found his way to the Islanders ahead of the 2023 trade deadline when the Canucks, facing a cap crunch and a clear decision to make between two veteran pending UFA forwards in Horvat and JT Miller, elected to extend Miller ahead of the 2022-23 season. This made things a bit awkard for their captain, but Horvat kept his head down and did his best to help his team win games, scoring 31 goals in 49 games before being dealt to the Islanders.

The Canucks quickly used the first-round pick from that trade to grab Filip Hronek from the Detroit Red Wings, while Beauvillier was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks early on in the very next season.

Through 260 regular-season games with the Islanders, Horvat has tallied 99 goals and 99 assists, good for 198 total points. In 11 playoff games with New York, Horvat has picked up five points.

The Canucks drafted Horvat ninth overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, after then-GM Mike Gillis pulled the trigger on a deal that sent goaltender Cory Schneider to the Devils in exchange for the pick used to select Horvat.

Horvat played in 621 regular-season games for the Vancouver Canucks over nine seasons from 2014 to 2023. And nobody will ever forget Bubble Bo: