For all the warranted discussion about what having a full training camp versus joining the Islanders on the fly would do for Bo Horvat, the better comparison might be to what the center was dealing with on opening night a year ago.
Consider his position at that time.
The Canucks had extended J.T. Miller over the summer, signaling that Horvat — their captain — would be headed for the trade market. Vancouver’s coach, Bruce Boudreau, was under scrutiny so constant that he ended up behind the bench for multiple games in January after it became clear to the watching world that he was going to be fired.
A franchise in one of the most heavily covered and hockey-mad markets in the league was descending into dysfunction, and Horvat had to answer for it: Every single night.
With that context in mind, Horvat’s answer to what is most different now is not altogether surprising.
“I think everybody’s just so tight-knit here,” he said ahead of his first opening night with the Islanders. “They’ve been together forever. It’s like a little family in here, away from the rink, at the rink. It’s fun to be a part of [it] that way. They’ve made it an easy transition for me to get to know everybody. I’m lucky to be here and happy to be here for another eight years.”
The Islanders are a decidedly low-key franchise.
They are a New York team, but play in the suburbs. They do not draw the attention of the Rangers, who do not draw the attention of the Yankees, Knicks, Giants or Jets.
Vancouver is a smaller market by population.
But it is much bigger in the attention commanded by its hockey team.
“It’s really the only show in town, you know what I mean?” Mathew Barzal, Horvat’s linemate and a Vancouver native, told The Post. “You got the [CFL] B.C. Lions, but [the Canucks are] just the talk of the town. Everybody, that’s the big thing.
“This is New York. Like sure, we have Long Island and whatnot, [but] it’s just Canada. The media’s elevated. Just a lot of chatter about it. You’ve got eight sports teams here in New York. I wouldn’t change it. This is the best. This is a top-five place to play in the league I think.”
One of the reasons usually given as to why players like Long Island is that it has a lot of the appeals of a big market with fewer of the drawbacks.
For Horvat, that means after being at the eye of the storm in Vancouver, he can now live in peace.
“Obviously being the captain there in Vancouver, you had a lot of weight on your shoulders and had to deal with everything outside of the rink, too, media and stuff,” Horvat told The Post. “So, made it a lot harder that way. Here, it’s easier in that sense. I just kinda come and do my job and play hockey and have fun out there.”
Don’t get him wrong. Horvat — though not wearing a letter with the Islanders — still wants to be a leader.
He’s still honored that the Canucks put a “C” on his jersey and is still happy to shoulder the blame when things go wrong. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t nice to be free of some burdens.
“[Anders Lee] does a hell of a job with that,” Horvat said. “And to have that pressure kinda off you a little bit — obviously I still feel that and I still want to perform and not have my teammates wear the blame. But at the same time, not to have that, it’s kind of been a little bit of a weight off my shoulders.”
That all means little if it doesn’t translate onto the ice, and Horvat knows it. He made no secret of being unhappy with the way his scoring dried up after coming to the Islanders last year. He knows the expectations on him now.
“I still have more to prove,” he said. “I think I still have a lot better hockey to be played here. And I can’t wait to start that on Saturday.”
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