Updated Look at Top Landing Spots for Bo Horvat
The Vancouver Canucks need to make big changes, and with each passing day it seems more and more likely those changes will begin with a Bo Horvat trade before the March 3 trade deadline.
That became even more apparent this week when the Canucks made the decision to re-sign pending unrestricted free agent Andrei Kuzmenko to a new two-year contract extension that carries a $5 million per year salary cap hit.
That contract, combined with the Canucks' need to re-tool a flawed roster that is already pressed to the upper limits of the league's salary cap, makes it increasingly unlikely that Horvat will be re-signed. That means a trade could be on the horizon.
Horvat should be the top rental player available in advance of the deadline, and there will be no shortage of potential landing spots.
Entering play on Friday he has already scored 31 goals in 48 games, his second straight 30-goal season. Since the start of the 2021-22 season his 62 goals are 15th most in the NHL. That number looks even better when you take into account he has done that in only 118 games. That is a 43-goal pace over 82 games.
That sort of goal scoring will make any team better.
With that in mind it is time again to take an updated look at some of the best teams that could use him.
Boston Bruins
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The Boston Bruins adding Horvat would take them from a top Stanley Cup favorite to Stanley Cup or bust territory.
They already have the best record in the league by a mile, and adding Horvat to the lineup would give them another top-tier forward to complement Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand and Taylor Hall.
The Bruins also have developed a recent habit of trading for pending unrestricted free agents and signing them to long-term contract extensions, having previously done so with Charlie Coyle, Taylor Hall and most recently defenseman Hampus Lindholm.
The Bruins also have to brace themselves for the possibility that one (or both) of Bergeron or Krejci will not be back next season, something that would leave them with a massive hole down the middle.
Horvat would solve that problem.
All of this is easier said than done, however. The Bruins would need to find a way to create salary cap space this season and send one of their contracts back the other way. Jake DeBrusk has wanted out of Boston in the past and even though things seem to have been smoothed over there, this could be a path to get him a new start. The Bruins would also almost certainly have to part with a first-round pick and/or a top prospect like Fabian Lysell.
Steep price to pay? Absolutely. But opportunities to win the Stanley Cup do not come around very often, and this is as good of an opportunity as the Bruins have had in years. Adding Horvat would be the type of all-in move that excites everybody.
Carolina Hurricanes
2 of 5
The Hurricanes are a fascinating possibility because they have the kind of aggressive front office that is not afraid to make a bold move.
Max Pacioretty's Achilles injury leaves a huge hole in a big part of the Hurricanes' plan for this season, but it does give them the salary cap flexibility to add another impact player.
Horvat would fit that description.
The Hurricanes already have good center depth with Sebastian Aho, Jordan Staal, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but Aho is the only one that provides a lot of scoring punch. For as good as the Hurricanes have been the past few years, they could still use another elite goal scorer to turn all of their consistent possession and territorial advantage into more goals. That is especially true come playoff time where their offense has fizzled out in some recent playoff series.
That is what made the Pacioretty addition this offseason such a potential game-changer. His greatest strength is finishing and scoring goals. Now that he is out of the picture for the time being, they need somebody else to provide that element.
Carolina has a full allotment of draft picks to deal from this year (including its first-rounder) and a strong collection of prospects and young players that could interest the Canucks.
Detroit Red Wings
3 of 5
The Detroit Red Wings might be a wild card here, but they have been mentioned (most recently by Rick Dhaliwal) as a potential landing spot for Horvat.
What makes them such a wild card is that they are probably not a playoff team this season, and as good as Horvat is he is not going to be enough to elevate them into the top-eight in the Eastern Conference.
This would be a move for next season and beyond.
That would, of course, be dependent on their ability to re-sign him beyond this season.
At some point the pressure is going to start mounting for general manager Steve Yzerman and this team to take a big step forward and get back closer to playoff contention. It looked like they had a chance to maybe take that step this season thanks to a big offseason that saw them add David Perron, Dominik Kubalik, Ville Husso and Olli Määttä to a roster that already had key building blocks like Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Dylan Larkin in place,
But the Red Wings still find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture. They clearly need more help.
Horvat could do one of two things for the Red Wings.
On one hand, he could serve as a potential replacement for Dylan Larkin (also a pending unrestricted free agent after this season) if the Red Wings are unable to re-sign him to a contract extension before the offseason.
Or if the Red Wings could get both of them re-signed it could potentially give them a dynamic 1-2 punch down the middle to build around.
The Red Wings could probably put together a competitive offer with a first-round pick that would be somewhere in the top-16 as well as young players like Michael Rasmussen or Joe Veleno.
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Minnesota Wild
4 of 5
The Minnesota Wild are in a tough spot for the next few years because of the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Those two transactions have sabotaged their salary-cap outlook through the end of the 2024-25 season, putting them on the hook for nearly $15 million in dead cap space each year.
That makes it tough to build a winner.
In the short-term, though, the Wild have built a contending team that badly needs help at center.
They also might have a path to adding a player like Horvat as a rental for the rest of the season—especially if they make another corresponding move like trading defenseman Matt Dumba.
Minnesota's top three centers this season have been Joel Eriksson Ek, Frédérick Gaudreau and Sam Steel. Other than Eriksson Ek (39 points), they are not getting much scoring punch from the position. At least not enough to help them seriously compete with teams like the Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche in the Central Division.
Given Minnesota's salary-cap situation, it would be nearly impossible to envision a scenario in which it could extend Horvat. The team only has $9.3 million available in projected cap space for 2023-24, with only 14 players under contract.
But that salary-cap situation is kind of what makes the Wild such an intriguing rental option. They are good enough to make the playoffs, and the Western Conference looks pretty wide-open. How many opportunities in the next two years is Minnesota going to have to seriously compete with that cap situation? Why not take advantage of the opportunity this season and make a bold move to take a run at it?
Even if the price ends up being more than Minnesota wants to pay in terms of draft picks and prospects, it should at least be willing to make the call. It never hurts to ask.
Colorado Avalanche
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It is difficult to envision a scenario in which the Colorado Avalanche do not add a center before the trade deadline.
Nazem Kadri's departure to the Calgary Flames in free agency has left a big hole on the team's second line, and it could use a boost if Colorado wants to go into the playoffs with a chance to repeat as Stanley Cup champion.
Without Kadri, the Avalanche have had to use J.T. Compher as a second-line center and at times even played Mikko Rantanen at the position. But they are at their best when Nathan MacKinnon and Rantanen are playing alongside each other and have a second dominant scoring line to complement them.
Along with MacKinnon, Horvat might give the Avalanche an even better one-two punch down the middle than what they had a year ago with Kadri and would make them a force to deal with offensively. Colorado has not matched expectations this season, but that is largely due to injury issues that have sabotaged the roster.
Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin, Bowen Byram and MacKinnon have all missed significant time. And Colorado was already lacking some of the depth it had a year ago following Kadri's exit.
The Avalanche have traded several of their draft picks over the next few years but still have each of their next two first-round picks. Center Alex Newhook is also a player who could intrigue the Canucks.
All salary-cap information via CapFriendly.
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