NY Islanders sign Bo Horvat to an eight-year contract extension

There was never anything to worry about.

On Sunday afternoon, the New York Islanders announced they have signed newly acquired Bo Horvat to an eight-year contract extension. Per SportNet's Elliotte Friedman, the contract is worth $8.5M AAV a season.

The move was a must for GM Lou Lamoriello after trading Anthony Beauvillier, 20-year-old prospect Aatu Raty, and a protected 2023 1st-round pick to Vancouver for the former captain. The trade was viewed as high risk because the potential for the Islanders to both miss the playoffs and miss out on extending Horvat was viewed as a possibility, one that would've set back the franchise after trading their top prospect and another first-rounder with an already shallow prospect pool.

"You have to give something to get something," Lamoriello said Monday. "But with the depth we have down the middle; we felt this was something that helped our hockey team. Today and tomorrow. This is a 27-year-old player."

Horvat was in the final season of a six-year, $33 million contract ($5.5 million average annual value) he signed with the Canucks in 2017 and was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Horvat has 54 points, including tying his NHL career high with 31 goals, in 49 games this season. Selected by Vancouver in the first round (No. 9) of the 2013 NHL Draft, the 27-year-old has 420 points (201 goals, 219 assists) in 621 regular-season games and 16 points (11 goals, five assists) in 23 playoff games.

“I don't know how to really put it into words,” Horvat told SNY’s Julie Stewart-Binks Friday night. “When you get traded, you think you're gonna play an actual game before you put on that jersey and to do an All-Star game. Definitely was weird.”

“But, you know, It felt right, it felt good and I was happy to go out there in that jersey,” Horvat added.

He'll now being that jersey for a long, long time.