Canucks: 3 takeaways from Bo Horvat’s first year as captain
Bo Horvat put up some new career numbers in his first season as captain of the Vancouver Canucks. Here are three takeaways from his game this year.
Not that there was ever any doubt, but after just one season as the captain of the Vancouver Canucks, it’s safe to say that Bo Horvat has proven to be a natural-born leader and the right man for the job. This season the 25-year-old was the best 2C in Van-City since Ryan Kesler, and he took another big step forward this season in becoming a dominant two-way player.
The passing of the torch was a long time coming for the new Canucks captain, but it paid off. Groomed by two of the best leaders to ever step foot inside the Vancouver locker room, Horvat learned patience, hard work, and how to be the perfect role model athlete long before he ever became captain.
Finally, with the captaincy over his heart, Horvat kicked it into another gear and helped be a big reason why the Canucks were so entertaining to watch this year. He scored timely goals when they mattered, he dropped the gloves when the team needed a spark, and he was always the first to face the media after a tough loss. Let’s dive into Horvat’s three biggest takeaways from his first regular-season as captain.
Horvat put up career numbers
It’s almost a given at this point, but with each and every season that passes Horvat continues to climb the ranks as an offensive weapon in the National Hockey League. This year was no different. Horvat was on pace to set new career-bests in both points and assists when COVID-19 ended the Canucks’ regular season 13 games short.
As any player can, Horvat saw his production teeter back and forth in the early goings as captain. I don’t know if it was the pressure of it all, but him not scoring at home until late December must have been keeping him up at night. I’m just a fan of the game, but I know a few of his unlucky misses had me face some sleepless nights.
However, Horvat found his footing in the New Year, luckily his road warrior mentality kept him afloat statistically, and he finished the season with terrific numbers. Despite playing more of a shutdown role in the defensive end against the opposition’s best players on a nightly basis, he paced for a career-best 63 points.
His net-front presence on the man-advantage couldn’t be understated. He racked up 15 points on the power play including a team-best 11 goals, which many of them converted because of good positioning for rebounds or backdoor tap-ins. It’s clear what this guy can do when he plays with good players. Give him a full season next to Elias Pettersson and watch him hit 80 points.
Horvat knows how to win faceoffs
Having a hold of the puck is a big thing in hockey and winning faceoffs plays a big part in all of that. As a bottom of the barrel team in terms of possession numbers, the Canucks know that more than anybody else, and when it comes to Vancouver, Horvat is the King of the faceoff circle. He’s actually near the top of the charts for all NHL centers. Coming out the winner of the draw more times than not became a really vital part of the Canucks’ survival.
Playing under the legendary faceoff man himself Manny Malhotra, Horvat crafted the draw and finished the season with a 57.3% winning rate. He finished inside the top-10 across the entire league and helped the Canucks have one of the NHL’s best faceoff winning percentages.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Horvat took a whopping 1483 faceoffs this year and won 850 of them. To put things in perspective, that’s exactly double the number of wins as the second-highest Canuck J.T. Miller.
Jay Beagle, a man brought to the Canucks for his faceoff winning abilities finished with the team’s best overall win percentage, however Horvat more than doubled his number of draws altogether. In fact, when you combine all the faceoffs taken by Beagle, Adam Gaudette, and Brandon Sutter, it appears Horvat only trails their 3- person total by 30. Let that sink in for a minute. That’s a large number of faceoffs and a ton of responsibility. Good thing the captain prevailed.
Horvat can handle the pressure of captaincy
Leadership didn’t change much for the Canucks between 2018 and 2019. The Sedin’s were gone and management got a good long look at how Horvat would respond without having them around. Obviously he pushed the needle enough to be given the captaincy, but how he would respond to that was an entirely different question. I know it’s just a letter stitched onto a jersey, but once it’s there it’s really there.
Early indications showed that Horvat would falter and give in to the pressure, but that never happened. Sure, he had times where things were difficult, where the losing streaks felt endless, but Horvat always rallied and always found a way to bounce back and get the team back in the hunt. He never pointed the finger, and he never blamed another teammate.
When his team was down and out, he’d find a way to score. When his stick was cold, he’d tighten up on defense. When the going got really tough, he’d drop the gloves and do anything to win. And when he couldn’t get the answer he needed on the ice, he was the first to take the blame in front of the camera.
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He took the captaincy to heart and he is the perfect guy for the role –The kind of guy who would put it all on the line for his teammates any day of the week.