Bo Horvat

Bowie William Horvat (born April 5, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Horvat was born on April 5, 1995, in London, Ontario, to Tim and Cindy Horvat.

He grew up in Rodney, Ontario, a 90-minute drive from Detroit, Michigan, and attended a number of Detroit Red Wings ice hockey games as a child.

Bo and his younger brother Cal would often practise playing hockey in the family basement throughout their childhoods, until Horvat moved away at the age of 12 to live with a billet family and play with the Toronto Red Wings minor ice hockey team.

In 2008, Horvat helped the Red Wings defeat the London Jr. Knights in the All-Toronto Peewee AAA hockey tournament, scoring 10 goals and leading the team with 16 points in the round-robin part of the tournament.

During the 2010–11 minor hockey season, Horvat played minor hockey for the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs of the Alliance Hockey organization, where he was named the league player of the year after recording 47 goals and 71 assists for 118 points in 68 games.

His Chiefs coach Rob Simpson described Horvat as a player who "put up a ton of points and maybe cheated [defensively] a little bit at times".

When the Elgin-Middlesex season came to an end, Horvat also played in five games with the St. Thomas Stars of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, which was coached by his father, and helped them win their respective league championship.

He used that cup of coffee stint with the Stars as a way of preparing for the impending jump from minor to junior ice hockey.

Following his year with Elgin-Middlesex and St. Thomas, the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) selected Horvat ninth overall in the 2011 OHL Priority Selection draft.

Joining the Knights for the 2011–12 season, Horvat scored his first OHL goal in his league debut, an 8–0 win over the Saginaw Spirit on September 23, 2011.

During his rookie year with London, Horvat scored 11 goals and recorded an additional 19 assists, and he posted a +27 plus–minus through 64 regular season games.

Internationally, he has played for Team Canada at the 2012 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament (under-18), 2014 IIHF U20 Championships and the 2018 IIHF World Championship.

That year, the Knights won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champions, defeating the Niagara IceDogs in a best-of-seven series, and they advanced to the 2012 Memorial Cup finals, where they were defeated in overtime by Canadian Hockey League (CHL) champions the Shawinigan Cataractes.

During the 2012–13 season, Horvat improved to 33 goals and 61 points in 67 regular-season games.

He was selected ninth overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, where he served as captain from 2019 until his trade to the Islanders in 2023.

During his junior career in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), he won the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as playoff MVP in 2013, as well as two J. Ross Robertson Cup titles with the London Knights.

This included a 17-game point streak in the middle of the season, which ended when the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds defeated the Knights 4–2 on January 13, 2013.

He also received coaches' awards for the OHL Western Conference as the best face-off skater and shot blocker on the team.

On the Knights' way to their second consecutive OHL championship, Horvat led the league with 16 goals and 23 points in 21 postseason games, the last of which was the game-winning goal with 0.1 seconds left to play in Game 7 of the OHL finals.

The Knights defeated the Barrie Colts 3–2, and Horvat received the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award for the most valuable player in the OHL playoffs.

Although the Knights lost to the Portland Winterhawks during the semifinal round of the 2013 Memorial Cup, Horvat, who had five points in as many games and did not record any penalty minutes, was awarded the George Parsons Trophy for the most sportsmanlike player during the tournament.

On June 30, 2013, the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL) traded goaltender Cory Schneider to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for the ninth overall pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, which they used to draft Horvat.

On August 6, Horvat signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Vancouver.

Although it appeared at first that Horvat would join the Canucks for the NHL season, coach John Tortorella wanted him to develop more in the OHL, where he would receive more playing time than the eight or nine minutes per game that an 18-year-old in the NHL would.

The acquisition of Zac Dalpe and Jeremy Welsh from the Carolina Hurricanes gave the Canucks enough roster depth that they could send Horvat and fellow draft pick Hunter Shinkaruk back to their respective junior teams.

Upon his return to London for the 2013–14 OHL season, Horvat was speculated to be the Knights' next captain, as both Jarred Tinordi and Scott Harrington had turned professional, but the Knights decided to postpone selecting a captain until after Christmas.

The title ultimately went to Chris Tierney, while Horvat was named one of four alternate captains.

As alternate captain, Horvat put together his second consecutive 30-goal campaign, with a career-best 44 assists and 74 points in the regular season.

The Knights, meanwhile, fell short of becoming three-time OHL champions when they were defeated by the Guelph Storm in the semifinals.

Competing for an NHL roster spot in his second training camp with the Canucks the following season, Horvat was hit by Edmonton Oilers forward Tyler Pitlick during a pre-season game and suffered a shoulder injury.

Upon recovering, he was assigned to the Canucks' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Utica Comets, on a conditioning basis.

After five games without a point with Utica, Horvat returned to the Canucks.

Horvat made his NHL debut on November 4, 2014, against the Colorado Avalanche.

Six games later, he scored his first NHL goal on November 20 against Frederik Andersen of the Anaheim Ducks.

The following game, he registered his first three assists in a 4–1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks.

On November 25, the Canucks announced that they would not be returning Horvat to the OHL despite his remaining year of junior eligibility.

Despite Horvat's status as a highly anticipated prospect, Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins admitted later in the season he had not expected Horvat to compete for a roster spot.

Playing on a line with wingers Jannik Hansen and fellow rookie Ronalds Ķēniņš, Horvat earned bottom-six ice time in his first year with Vancouver, averaging 12:15 minutes per game.

Leading into his professional draft year, the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked Horvat the 15th-most valuable hockey prospect in North America.