Horvat trade gives Leafs opportunity to be aggressive at deadline

The blockbuster trade that sent Canucks Bo Horvat from Vancouver to New York took many by surprise, particularly at how early the Islanders made the move but the deal sets the market for the pending trade deadline, when the Maple Leafs will be looking to upgrade their own roster.

Video Transcript

[CYMBAL CLASH]

- The trade deadline started early. The Vancouver Canucks traded Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders, and now he has a deal. So-- and everyone's kind of figuring out why did this happen now? Whatever, why-- you know, is Bo Horvat gonna help the Islanders make the playoffs? But my question is-- and probably you have the same question as well-- how does this affect the Leafs?

And usually I do this as a bit. But this is actually a legitimate question because the Leafs are going to be one of those teams who are gonna be-- who might be looking for, like, the heavy hitters at the trade deadline. We've talked about Timo Meier. We've talked about Ryan O'Reilly. Those players.

And if you look at the price of what Bo Horvat got, you have to think any trade has to start with that, right? I mean, Bo Horvat was going in, like, on the verge of a 30-goal season. He's probably gonna hit that. And when you think of the other players-- they have other players [? in ?] play-- [? Nick, ?] I don't think you can really ask for something as signif-- significantly more than what the Islanders gave up. So that might help in the Leafs' favor.

I mean, if it's a first-round pick, OK, yeah, Kyle Dubas said he doesn't want to give up the first. If it's a first-round pick, sure, you give up that first-round pick. Now, Anthony [? Beauvillier, ?] that's an interesting conversation because he's a player that only has 9 goals on the season. But he's still young, and he can be part of the core. Can the Leafs have an equivalent?

I think so. And the prospect they gave up, I do think there are players in the system with the Leafs right now that can be included that are relatively close. Maybe instead of having one prospect, maybe you have a couple. And I don't know. A lot of people say it has to be Matthew Knies. I don't know if it has to be Matthew Knies.

So this whole thing, there's a lot of question marks around the Bo Horvat trade. But the one thing that's very interesting is it might do the Leafs a big favor because if you asked me what the deal was gonna be for Bo Horvat, like, a month ago, I would have thought, like, a first, a couple of, like, prospects, like a key roster player, but that package that they got, I don't know. I think that's doable for the Leafs, especially in a year where they really need to add at the deadline.