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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Bo Horvat Week continued as the newest Islander and his new teammates arrived in Sunrise, FL, and met with the media ahead of tonight’s NHL All-Star Skills Competition. Joining Horvat at the All-Star Game is first-timer Brock Nelson.
Nelson’s career trajectory is a necessary reminder that sometimes, players just get better. They all don’t peak at 24 or 25 years old. It’s not as good as they’re ever going to get. Sometimes, it takes time and a lot of hard work to go from good to very good and from very good to All-Star.
I mention this because if things go well, the Islanders will extend a soon-to-be 28-year-old Horvat to an eight-year extension, coming off a career year. The detractors will say that this season is an outlier and that he’s due a regression, and that the Islanders are overpaying for a 55-60 point scorer. Not so fast.
When Nelson was 26, he scored 19 goals and 16 assists. The 35 points were his lowest total since his rookie season - and that was on Doug Weight’s team. But then, you know what happened? Brock got better - a lot better. He had a career-high 53 points the next year, 54 after that, and 37 goals to lead the team a year ago. Now he’s an All-Star.
Maybe Bo Horvat, like Nelson, is just getting better, and 2021-22 is not an outlier, but rather simply the start of Horvat’s new normal. Back in December, in an informative read via The Athletic, Thomas Drance wrote about how Horvart, thanks to a suggestion from Luke Schenn, sought out Adam Oates, Hall-of-Famer turned private skills coach, for advice on how to improve his game.
“We had a great conversation, and I just said, ‘I’ve been around the league for a while, but I want to get better I want to get myself to the next level.’ He told me he thought he could help me.” - Bo Horvat
Drance writes about how, under Oates’ tutelage, Horvat has become armed with new skills and a new outlook. He’s improved his play-making ability; he added more curve to his stick, and he learned how to protect the puck better. These small changes collectively have made a big difference in his production.
Horvat was a player that wouldn’t accept being average. He’s put in the time and work to become a great player and is still aiming to get better. If the Isles are able to secure a long-term commitment from Horvat, they’ll be getting it from a player who still feels he has another level to reach.
Coming up, the newest Islander signs … a jersey, and Brock Nelson gets ready for target practice. Plus, the first Long Islander to play and score for the Islanders, and Igor Shesterkin must’ve made Ilya Sorokin an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: With the sun shining and the Florida beaches as a backdrop, Metropolitan Division All-Stars Brock Nelson and Ilya Sorokin met the media on Thursday, as did Pacific Division All-Star, the newly acquired former Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvat. While Nelson and Sorokin are the unofficial welcoming committee for Horvat this weekend, plenty of Islanders have reached out to their newest teammate since the trade was announced.
"A lot of the guys have reached out and made it a lot easier for me," Horvat said. "A lot of how much they love Long Island, living there and being there and the fans there, as well as ex-players that have been there. And that just excites me more of what's going to happen."
While it was difficult for Nelson to see long-time teammate Anthony Beauvillier get moved in the deal, the Islanders center acknowledges that the trade was a vote of confidence from ownership and showed that the GM still believes in his core group.
"It just goes to show you Lou wants to win and wants to win right now," Nelson said. "It's huge for the group, and I think everybody believes in one another pre-trade and you know, probably more so now post-trade with Bo. He's going to be a big part of our team and a guy we're going to lean on a lot."
🎯 TARGET PRACTICE: It was announced that Brock Nelson will be one of 10 participants in the accuracy shooting competition later tonight. John Tavares is the only Islander to win this event. Back in 2016, Tavares took five shots to hit the four targets and needed 12.294 seconds to do it to win the competition.
Ilya Sorokin will participate in the Tendy Tandem. You can see the whole list of participants and description of events HERE
⏭ NEXT UP: Bo Horvat won’t make his Isles debut until Monday, Feb. 6, when the Isles travel to Philadelphia to battle the Flyers. Face-off is at 7:00 PM ET.
📊 STANDINGS: We’re now officially at the NHL All-Star break. The Isles are two points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have three games in hand and trail Washington by five points, with the Caps playing one more game.
✍🏻 SIGN HERE: There are Bo Horvat Islanders jerseys already being purchased and being worn. One fan showed up in Sunrise, FL, on Thursday and sought an autograph from the new No. 14 “Someone had an Isles Horvat jersey here today, and I had to concentrate on signing 14 instead of 53.”
You can watch his whole media availability below:
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Ilya Sorokin is 23-13-6 all-time at UBS Arena. His goals-against average of 2.03 trails only Frederik Andersen (2.02) among goalies who have made more than two home starts over the last two seasons, and his save percentage of .932 is the best in the NHL over that span. Sorokin went 9-1-0 at the Coliseum; he is 31-14-6 in his career at home, and his .930 career save percentage is the best on home ice in NHL history (minimum 50 home games)
🗓 ISLES REWIND: On Feb. 3, 1977, Richie Hansen became the first player from Long Island to score a goal for the New York Islanders during a 6-3 victory over the rival Rangers. Hansen, who was selected in the 7th round of the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft (119th overall) was born in the Bronx but was raised on Long Island, in Northport.
It was one of just two goals he scored in his 20 career NHL games.
For more Hansen, the first genuine Long Islander to play for the Islanders, check out this Stan Fischler look-back from 2019, entitled Maven's Memories: Harris, Hansen and Historical Firsts
🎧 Island Ice: The Bo Horvat trade - Andrew Gross takes a deep dive into the Isles' trade for Bo Horvat. Hear from Horvat, Beauvillier, and Raty on the deal.
🔗 Islanders trade rumors: What firepower is out there after Bo Horvat? by Joe Pantorno, am New York “Horvat packs the scoring punch that the Islanders have so desperately lacked over the past four years, but it becomes clear when going through the current state of the roster that the team needs one more piece to add to their top six.”
🔗 Newest Islander Bo Horvat is anxious about his new team and his new environment by Andrew Gross, Newsday “Bo Horvat just wants to play hockey and feel comfortable on the ice as a member of the Islanders after being traded for the first time in his career. He’ll let his agent, Pat Morris, talk to president/general manager Lou Lamoriello about a potential contract extension.”
And we leave you with this…whatever the circumstances of the Islanders-Rangers rivalry, it’s highly unlikely that Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Sorkin will be anything but great friends. We found out on Thursday that Sorokin is the Godfather to the reigning Vezina Trophy winner’s son.
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