Bo Horvat is still going to the All-Star Game, but as you may have guessed, he won’t be wearing a Vancouver Canucks uniform while he’s there.
“[Horvat] will be representing the Pacific Division,” said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly in an email. “All club identifiers and intellectual property will reflect his current affiliation with the NY Islanders.”
You read that right. Horvat will still be going to the All-Star Game and will still represent the Pacific Division, even though the Islanders — whose logo Horvat, who again, will be playing for the Pacific Division — play in the Metropolitan Division. Horvat will be joined by Islander teammates Brock Nelson and Ilya Sorokin for All-Star weekend, but could end up facing off against them in the final of the All-Star tournament.
The 3-on-3 tournament will take place on Saturday, February 4th, but the skills competition will take place this Friday on February 3rd. During the skills competitions, players typically wear the home uniforms of their clubs, meaning this will likely be fans’ first chance to see Horvat wearing an Isles jersey with number 14 on the back.
The Vancouver Canucks traded Horvat to the Islanders on Monday, receiving Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty, and a 2023 first round pick in return. In his first press conference as an Islander, Horvat revealed that he was already down in Florida, as he and his wife Holly took their two kids Gunnar and Tulsa to Disney for a little family vacation ahead of All-Star weekend. Horvat said his parents and in-laws will be both be in attendance for the weekend’s festivities.
Horvat was voted in by fans after Elias Pettersson was first selected to be the Canucks’ one required representative for All-Star weekend. He’ll still be on the Pacific Division team — and will probably end up playing with Pettersson at some point — during the 3-on-3 tournament, where the Pacific and Central will face off against one another while the Metropolitan and Atlantic Division do the same. The winner of each game will play each other in the final.
It will be interesting to see if Horvat or Pettersson get to participate in the Breakaway competition — the NHL equivalent of the NBA’s dunk contest — in which Hall of Fame netminder Roberto Luongo will be strapping on the pads for the first time since retirement.
Friday’s skills competition kicks off at 4 PM Pacific time, with Saturday’s 3-on-3 tournament beginning at noon Pacific.
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