New details from the Olympics shed light on the real reason Bo Horvat left the Vancouver Canucks
Photo credit: Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images
Some new details have emerged about former captain Bo Horvat's exit from the Vancouver Canucks and contract talks that the two sides had leading up to his trade.
It's been a little over three years since the Vancouver Canucks traded captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders in exchange for a package that included Aatu Raty and a first round pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.
In those three years, Horvat has enjoyed plenty of success with the Islanders and he's now on pace to break his career-high in goals, which currently is 33, a mark he reached during his first full season on Long Island.
Trading away Bo Horvat is still something that a good chunk of Vancouver Canucks fans don't agree with to this day and on Thursday, some new details emerged about how his exit went down after contract talks between both parties failed.
New details emerge about Bo Horvat's exit from the Vancouver Canucks
During Thursday's edition of Donnie & Dhali, Rick Dhaliwal and TSN's Farhan Lalji discussed Bo Horvat's performance during Canada's 5-0 win over Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics and dove into his departure from Vancouver a little bit.
According to Rick Dhaliwal, the summer prior to Bo Horvat being traded, the club went to their captain and said that they were committed to him and the captain himself informed the club he wanted to say, with Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford going against his wishes.
"Horvat wanted to stay. They told Horvat that summer we're going to pick you and then they went against it." Dhaliwal said.
Farhan Lalji went on to add that it went right down to the wire with Horvat and the Canucks, with Jim Rutherford putting out an ultimatum in August of 2022 and after his camp said no, the club turned their attention towards J.T. Miller, locking him up to a long-term extension just days later.
"It was right there. To the 11th hour, it was all but done. Then at the end of August, Rutherford put out an ultimatum to Horvat's camp and they said no and within 3 days JT Miller got signed." Lalji said.
Bo Horvat embodied what it meant to be a Vancouver Canuck and it felt like he was going to remain with the organization for his entire career, but instead of committing to him, as they reportedly promised, and giving their captain what he was worth, they decided to move on and it's safe to say that it'll go down as one of the worst trades in franchise history.
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