Pending UFA Horvat wants to be a 'Canuck for life'
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Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvat said Monday he's keeping his focus on the ice while entering a contract year this season.
Horvat, who has spent his entire career with Vancouver after being selected ninth overall in 2013, is scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency next July.
"I can't let that that kind of stuff bother me," Horvat said. "I can't always have it hanging over my head. For me, I have to put my head down and be the best leader I can.
"I'm a Vancouver Canuck right now and I'm going to be a Vancouver Canuck for this full year and I'm going to try to do whatever I can help this team win and that's my main focus right now."
The 27-year-old forward carries a cap hit of $5.5 million on the six-year contract he signed with the team as a restricted free agent in 2017. He scored a career-high 31 goals last season and posted 52 points in 70 games as Vancouver missed the playoffs for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.
Horvat, who was named captain of the team in 2019, has 170 goals and 366 points in 572 career games.
"Obviously my career started here, and my wife and I love the city, we love the people, we love the fans and the organization, so you always have that in the back of your mind that you're going to be a Canuck for life," Horvat said. "I want that to happen, and we'll see what happens here but these things do take time and hopefully we can get it done soon."
Canucks Cap Questions
After signing J.T. Miller to a seven-year, $56 million contract extension earlier this month, the Canucks are currently projected to have $14.6 million in cap space with 14 players under contract for the 2023-24 season, per CapFriendly.
“We took our time and looked at the roster. Cap situation moving forward, obviously, is important," Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said after signing Miller. "And then we looked at the options, what’s out there, in terms of players being available potentially next summer.
"And as I’ve said all along here, J.T. was our best player last year. He’s a super competitive player. And we were really happy to get the contract extension here done."
Miller, Quinn Hughes, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Thatcher Demko, Conor Garland and off-season addition Ilya Mikheyev are all signed through at least the 2025-26 season. Elias Pettersson, the Canucks highest-paid forward this season, is scheduled to reach restricted free agency in 2024.
While speaking earlier this month, Allvin was non-committal on keeping Horvat long-term.
“Bo is our captain. We respect and we like Bo," Allvin added. "And we’re communicating with his camp and we’ll see if there’s a deal to be made there.”