Canucks: How the Bo Horvat trade changed the franchise

If the Vancouver Canucks didn’t trade Cory Schneider and land Bo Horvat, the franchise would look a lot different today.

Mike Gillis’ tenure as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks ended on a sour note, but he was the one who put the inevitable and mandatory rebuild in motion.

After the Canucks were swept by the San Jose Sharks in the opening round of the 2013 postseason, Gillis knew that some changes were necessary. He fired head coach Alain Vigneault and replaced him with John Tortorella. The other major order of business was figuring out the complicated goaltending situation.

Roberto Luongo wanted a fresh start, but the Canucks were handcuffed with his 12-year $64 million contract that was signed prior to the 2009-10 season. And so, Gillis had no choice but to deal away the younger, cheaper and arguably better Cory Schneider.

At the 2013 draft, Gillis traded Schneider to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for the No. 9 selection. That seemed like a fairly low return at the time, given Schneider’s age (27) and status as a rising star netminder.

Gillis used the No. 9 selection on London Knights centre Bo Horvat, who was coming off a 33-goal, 61-point season. The Canucks had Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler as their top two centres at the time, so it was easy to question the Horvat selection.

But once Horvat made the jump to the NHL in 2014-15, it was clear that the Canucks had something special. Kesler was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in the 2014 offseason, so the opportunity was there for Horvat to eventually gain the No. 2 centre role.

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He contributed 13 goals and 25 points in 68 games, and he would only elevate his play from there. Horvat tallied 16 goals and 40 points in his sophomore 2015-16 season, and it became evident that Vancouver had its first foundational piece for the rebuilding period.

With the Sedin twins slowing down and nearing retirement, Horvat gradually developed into the next leader and up-and-coming star to lead the way.

Fast forward four years later, and the 25-year-old captain is now a four-time 20-goal scorer with a trio of 50-point seasons on his resume.

The Canucks’ exciting young core now consists of Horvat, Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, Adam Gaudette, Jake Virtanen, Quinn Hughes and Thatcher Demko — with veterans Alexander Edler, Jacob Markstrom and J.T. Miller supplementing them.

Looking back, it’s impossible to guess where the Canucks would have been if Gillis simply kept Schneider and never landed Horvat to begin with. What if Vancouver had another year of goalie controversy in 2013-14?

Would the Schneider-Luongo duo have helped the Canucks make the playoffs again, likely keeping Gillis and Tortorella intact? In that case, ownership would have surely told Gillis to build a playoff-caliber team, rather than enter a retooling phase.

If the Canucks missed the playoffs and earned high draft selections again 2014, 2015 and 2016? You have to think they would have addressed the centre position, since they wouldn’t have had Horvat in the fold.

In that case, maybe the Canucks choose William Nylander or Dylan Larkin at No. 6 overall in 2014 instead of Virtanen. Or, maybe they earn a higher pick in 2015 and don’t bother taking Boeser; perhaps a centre in Dylan Strome, Pavel Zacha or Mathew Barzal.

Or, maybe the Canucks take Clayton Keller, Tyson Jost or Logan Brown at No. 5 overall in 2016 instead of Olli Juolevi. Had Vancouver taken two centres in the first round between 2014 and 2016, they certainly wouldn’t have taken Pettersson fifth overall in 2017.

At the time, the Schneider trade made very little sense, especially since Luongo had little desire to stay here. But Gillis took the risk, and it paid off immensely. He was eventually able to unload Luongo’s contract at the 2014 trade deadline to the Florida Panthers, receiving Markstrom as part of the return.

No matter how you felt about Gillis’ tenure in Vancouver, you simply have to credit him for getting the retooling phase started. Ending the goalie controversy once and for all while landing a future captain and first/second line centre turned out to be a savvy move that has changed the franchise for the better.