Player Discussion Bo Horvat

[Canucks1096]

From what I've seen lately, Horvat doesn't seem to share the puck as much as his teammates do. Too often he chooses to take a low probability shot than make a pass that would lead to a higher probability shot by his teammates. I think he becoming a bit too selfish with the puck trying to be the hero.

Lol. I am not sure what you are watching

 

[F A N]

That last point strikes me as odd. You could say the same thing about his offensive game, or just about any other area.

Oddly enough, I think the biggest limitation currently holding back his offensive game IS his defensive game-- He spends too much time hemmed in his own end unable to push things back the other way. Once he has the puck entering the offensive zone, he's very effective (despite occasionally selfish/tunnel-vision play). The ice just isn't tilted in that direction when he's on the ice nearly as often as you would think he's capable of.

On top of that, expecting him to dramatically improve his offensive game sounds a bit unrealistic/unfair of an expectation to me. It's possible, but it's not something I'm banking on. If he tops out at a 60+ point pace for most of his career (which he's already pretty close to doing consistently), that's pretty fitting for his talent level. Meanwhile, his defensive game seems like it should be at a level dramatically beyond what it is right now, I would most expect that focus to bare results, and it would probably help his line's overall effectiveness more than anything else, IMO.

Not sure why you found my last point odd. I find your post odd. I think Horvat is proving you wrong and making a joke out of your post.

 

[vanarchy]

That last point strikes me as odd. You could say the same thing about his offensive game, or just about any other area.

Oddly enough, I think the biggest limitation currently holding back his offensive game IS his defensive game-- He spends too much time hemmed in his own end unable to push things back the other way. Once he has the puck entering the offensive zone, he's very effective (despite occasionally selfish/tunnel-vision play). The ice just isn't tilted in that direction when he's on the ice nearly as often as you would think he's capable of.

On top of that, expecting him to dramatically improve his offensive game sounds a bit unrealistic/unfair of an expectation to me. It's possible, but it's not something I'm banking on. If he tops out at a 60+ point pace for most of his career (which he's already pretty close to doing consistently), that's pretty fitting for his talent level. Meanwhile, his defensive game seems like it should be at a level dramatically beyond what it is right now, I would most expect that focus to bare results, and it would probably help his line's overall effectiveness more than anything else, IMO.

This guys assessment of Horvat is why we can't have nice things.

The kid is a work horse and still improving in many facets at 23. He has his weaknesses but almost every player does. Chill out.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

This guys assessment of Horvat is why we can't have nice things.

The kid is a work horse and still improving in many facets at 23. He has his weaknesses but almost every player does. Chill out.

He is doing too much of his horse work while stuck in his own zone. Getting out shot 98 to 154 is absolutely horrible.

 

[Shareefruck]

This guys assessment of Horvat is why we can't have nice things.

The kid is a work horse and still improving in many facets at 23. He has his weaknesses but almost every player does. Chill out.

Uhhh..... I didn't make any statements about him not being a workhorse or doubt his ability to improve his weaknesses (just the opposite, actually), nor did I suggest that he hit his ceiling at 23 or that he has more weaknesses than other players. Just because he's a great player, that doesn't mean we should not acknowledge what those weaknesses happen to be. Markus Naslund was a worse defensive player. It doesn't take away from his greatness to point that out and hope that it's the area he identifies when speaking about trying to improve.

Not sure why you found my last point odd. I find your post odd. I think Horvat is proving you wrong and making a joke out of your post.

It strikes me as odd because it's just as accurate to say that he is improving offensively whether he has identified his offensive play as an area of weakness or not. Neither point really has any bearing on anything we're talking about.

Not every exchange needs to devolve into disparaging insults.

 

[Zanon]

I didn't make any statements about him not being a workhorse or not improving or hitting his ceiling at 23 or having more weaknesses than other players. Just because he's a great player, that doesn't mean we should not acknowledge what those weaknesses happen to be. Markus Naslund was an even worse defensive player.

Naslund and Bertuzzi never even back-checked when Crawford was the coach.

 

[Shareefruck]

Naslund and Bertuzzi never even back-checked when Crawford was the coach.

Exactly.

 

[LordBacon]

Surprised his back hasn’t snapped from all the heavy lifting he’s been doing. Looking more like a captain with each game. LOVE IT!!

 

[Icebreakers]

Those strides from Bo in overtime to stop Marchessault on the breakaway was so smooth. Hes such a great skater now.

 

[Canuckle1970]

How many teams/coaches around the league would love to have Bo Horvat? I'm so glad he's ours.

 

[Zanon]

How many teams/coaches around the league would love to have Bo Horvat? I'm so glad he's ours.

I bet the Devils do.

 

[Hemty]

Surprised his back hasn’t snapped from all the heavy lifting he’s been doing. Looking more like a captain with each game. LOVE IT!!

This deserves more likes.

 

[brokenhole]

Some of the Horvat critics are kind of silent right now, they were pretty vocal at the beginning of the year. 3rd line center lol.

 

[Luck 6]

Weaknesses? Noted. But overall, he’s been very impressive this season and seems to have taken another step. If Hughes and Juolevi come in next year and perform well on the blueline I’d say we would be well on our way to becoming a playoff team again. Then, we can start adding some talent through free agency to fill holes.

 

[Breakers]

Some of the Horvat critics are kind of silent right now, they were pretty vocal at the beginning of the year. 3rd line center lol.

Horvat himself said he didn't like his lines performances at the start of the year.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Those strides from Bo in overtime to stop Marchessault on the breakaway was so smooth. Hes such a great skater now.

It's incredible to think back and know that one of the biggest knocks on him at the time of the draft was his skating. Never would guess that now.

He had a rough couple of games to start the season, but he's really taken on the on-ice leadership role that most of us expected he would. Playing some damn good hockey right now.

 

[THE Green Man]

Weaknesses? Noted. But overall, he’s been very impressive this season and seems to have taken another step. If Hughes and Juolevi come in next year and perform well on the blueline I’d say we would be well on our way to becoming a playoff team again. Then, we can start adding some talent through free agency to fill holes.

Post Benning era sure. No way do I want that moron throwing out more money July 1st.

 

[Icebreakers]

I also like it when Horvat scores at away games you can hear the WOOOOO coming from him as he silences the crowd.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

They say progression isn’t linear, however it seems Bo is getting better every year. He seems to recognize his weaknesses and works very hard on improving them. Initially he recognized his skating wasn’t were it needed to be and fixed that, this off season he said he wanted to work on being a better playmaker and puck distributor with better awareness in all 3 zones. It’s great to see a player critically analyze himself with a commitment to get better, shows great character.

 

[vancityluongo]

Bo definitely seems to have hit another level this year. More impressive than the goals last night was the OT backcheck on Marchessault. He wasn't doing that effectively in the -30 season.

His development curve to date has been much more of a punctuated equilibrium than anything else. After a 100 games or so of seemingly stagnating (hence the "Bozak" talk that was floating around), if he can genuinely maintain this level of play, that would go a huge way to being a legitimate team in the next decade.

Agreed that his Ryan Kesler vs Nashville swagger dangles are a little annoying, but I think the team should do everything to maximize his abilities in that area rather than trying to Willie-style coach it out of him. A huge reason Bo has looked good is genuinely because he isn't getting murdered on the PK this year.

I'd really explore moving him to LW though to pursue more of a Taylor Hall style game than keeping him at center where his playmaking just isn't up to the standards of a first line center. Would be very curious about pairing him with Gaudette moving forward, especially once Pettersson is back. In the interim, have Bo continue to take faceoffs to insulate Gaudette, but plan to have him and EP as the 1-2 centers going forward rather than Bo and EP.

 

[ziploc]

Not every exchange needs to devolve into disparaging insults.

Them's fightin' words!

 

[Wildcarder]

Horvat has the makings of a perfect top end #2C and I'd be elated if that's what he turned out to be. He could probably fill in as a poor man's #1C but if Elias becomes as good as we all think he can be we'd have a pretty amazing 1-2 punch down the middle.

 

[GetFocht]

Bo definitely seems to have hit another level this year. More impressive than the goals last night was the OT backcheck on Marchessault. He wasn't doing that effectively in the -30 season.

His development curve to date has been much more of a punctuated equilibrium than anything else. After a 100 games or so of seemingly stagnating (hence the "Bozak" talk that was floating around), if he can genuinely maintain this level of play, that would go a huge way to being a legitimate team in the next decade.

Agreed that his Ryan Kesler vs Nashville swagger dangles are a little annoying, but I think the team should do everything to maximize his abilities in that area rather than trying to Willie-style coach it out of him. A huge reason Bo has looked good is genuinely because he isn't getting murdered on the PK this year.

I'd really explore moving him to LW though to pursue more of a Taylor Hall style game than keeping him at center where his playmaking just isn't up to the standards of a first line center. Would be very curious about pairing him with Gaudette moving forward, especially once Pettersson is back. In the interim, have Bo continue to take faceoffs to insulate Gaudette, but plan to have him and EP as the 1-2 centers going forward rather than Bo and EP.

I wouldn't be opposed to this, maybe Canucks can try to sign Duchene and more Horvat to LW since our biggest weakness is on wings in regards to forwards.

 

[xtra]

Who actually pegged him as a 3rd line center in the last couple years. When he was drafted (with skating being an issue) I could probably see it but recently???

I truly think that his ceiling is Ryan Kesler 2011 with maybe fewer goals but more assists

 

[Icebreakers]

35-35 in his prime.