NY Islanders Plus/Minus for 2023-24: Bo Horvat needs to live up to the hype

I've rarely seen a fanbase sour on a player as quickly as the NY Islanders fanbase soured on Bo Horvat. Usually, when that happens, it's because of some off-ice issue, but for Horvat, it seems fans have just decided he's not good enough. Are they right? Well... it's complicated.

Horvat was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks on January 30th, in the middle of a career year. He was a pending unrestricted free agent but quickly signed an 8-year contract extension with an average annual value of $8.5 million. That's a lot of money, and whether he can live up to that contract will play a very large role in determining whether the Islanders are a Cup contender, a bubble team, or a bottom-ten team for the near future.

Horvat unquestionably has offensive talent and a lot of it. He's decent at defense, he's excellent at faceoffs, and he kills penalties. But he seemed to take a big step back when he arrived on Long Island. Let's look deeper into Bo Horvat's game.