Bo Horvat says wearing the Islanders’ captaincy is “an honor” and “a privilege,” but the message around him is that the job already fits the way he plays.
Tony DeAngelo pointed to Horvat’s all-situations workload as a big reason veterans trust him. Last season, Horvat led the Islanders with 31 goals, averaged 3:34 PP TOI/GP and 1:58 SH TOI/GP, and took a team-high 1,226 face-offs, winning 56.3%. That kind of responsibility, DeAngelo said, shows up in the details.
“It all starts with what you do on the ice,” DeAngelo said. “When you look at Jordan Staal in Carolina, when it’s a big time in the game, who is on the ice?
Jordan Staal. Bo’s a lot like that too.
We have a penalty kill. We have a faceoff late.
We have a power play, penalty kill six-on-five, and he just does things right from practice all the way on through that.”
Horvat, meanwhile, says the role feels different now than it did when he captained Vancouver. He said he’s grown as both a player and a person, and credited part of that growth to life as a parent of three children. For the 31-year-old, leading a second organization carries extra meaning because his family gets to share in it.
“It's kind of been awesome having kids young, they're going to remember me playing and remember a lot of it especially as they get older,” Horvat said. “Obviously having a letter on your jersey and being a captain of an NHL team is very special, but to share with my family and my kids is going to be even that much more special.”
He doesn’t expect the title to change how he operates. Horvat said he isn’t the loudest player in the room, but his approach has always been centered on setting the tone through his work. That’s the version of him the Islanders will lean on when Training Camp opens this week.
“Trying to lead by example on and off the ice is my biggest thing, and just continuing to keep pushing forward and getting better,” Horvat said. “Any way I can help the team is what I'm trying to do.”
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