The Vancouver Canucks have now closed the book on every part of the Bo Horvat return.
With Aatu Räty moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 15 for forwards Jacob Quillan and Brandon Buhr, none of the three assets Vancouver picked up in the January 2023 deal remain with the organization. Horvat went to the New York Islanders in that swap, and the Canucks brought back a 2023 first-round pick, Anthony Beauvillier and Räty.
That first-rounder was the first piece to move on. Vancouver packaged it with a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft to land Filip Hronek and a 2023 fourth-round pick from the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit used the first-round pick to draft defenceman Axel Sandin-Pellikka, who stayed with the Red Wings and posted a 21-point rookie season in 2025-26.
The Canucks’ fourth-rounder from that deal turned into centre Ty Mueller, who is still in the organization and remains a key part of Abbotsford’s forward group. The second-round pick Vancouver sent to Detroit did not stay there long either.
It was flipped to the Nashville Predators on the second day of the draft, with Detroit getting back a second-rounder and fifth-rounder that became defenceman Brady Cleveland and forward Kevin Bicker. Nashville used the pick on forward Felix Nilsson.
None of those three have played an NHL game yet.
Beauvillier was next out the door. At the end of November in 2023, Vancouver sent him to the Chicago Blackhawks for a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. He had produced 11 goals and 17 assists in 55 games for the Canucks before the move.
That fifth-round pick took a winding route before eventually being used to select forward Joel Svensson. Vancouver quickly moved it, along with a 2026 third-round pick, to the Calgary Flames for defenceman Nikita Zadorov.
Calgary later sent the pick to the San Jose Sharks for defenceman Nikita Okhotyuk at the 2024 trade deadline. Because of earlier trade agreements involving Chicago and Toronto, the pick wound up back with the Blackhawks and was the one they used.
Beauvillier kept moving too. He went from Chicago to Nashville at the trade deadline that same year, appearing in 15 games and recording a goal and two assists. That summer, he signed a one-year, $1.25M contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, then was later traded to the Capitals for a 2025 second-round pick by that year’s deadline.
Räty lasted the longest in Vancouver. The forward, known most for his work in the faceoff dot, spent all of the 2025-26 season with the Canucks, though he was occasionally a healthy scratch. In 66 games, he finished with four goals and 10 assists.
Toronto’s return to Vancouver brings two forwards with different paths to the organization. Quillan signed an entry-level deal with the Maple Leafs in April 2024 and has played 24 NHL games and 111 AHL games.
Buhr signed a one-year deal with Toronto in March 2026 after four seasons in the NCAA. The expectation is that Quillan will head to Abbotsford, while Buhr is likely bound for the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL.
In Other News...
Abbotsford Finally Gets Its Home Crowd As One Canucks Prospect Heats Up
After a long wait, the Abbotsford Canucks are set for their home opener at Rogers Forum, and the buzz around finally getting in front of their own crowd is impossible to miss. Head coach Ryan Papaioannou said there is real excitement in the room about playing in front of fans in Abbotsford, a milestone moment for a club that has spent the opening stretch of the season on the road.
A big part of that early success has come from Ty Mueller, who has been a steady two-way centre since turning pro and has handled a few different linemates without missing a beat. Papaioannou has liked the way Mueller has adapted to the lineup shuffles and contributed at both ends, giving Abbotsford a dependable presence as the home schedule finally begins to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Just Made A Roster Bet Fans Need To Notice
Aatu Ratys path in Vancouver had already reached an inflection point before the Canucks decided to move him, with the forward clearing waivers and still unable to carve out a steady NHL role. On the surface, the deal with Toronto for Jacob Quillan and Brandon Buhr looks like a swap of young players at a similar stage of development, but it also reflects a club trying to keep its roster flexible while sorting out who really fits into the long-term picture.
More importantly, the move hints at how the Canucks want to manage their center depth and asset value as the season unfolds. By opening a spot for Filip Chytil, Vancouver is signaling that it wants room to see whether he can become a trade chip later on, which makes this more than a simple change of scenery for one player and into a small but telling roster bet. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Have A New Oilers Problem Brewing In The Division
The injury list in Edmonton is starting to shrink, and that matters for a Canucks club trying to keep pace in a division that can change fast. Jason Gregor reported that Zach Hyman is expected to play against Utah, with Colton Dach and Jake Walman also close to returning, a reminder that the Oilers have been surviving a stretch without several important pieces and still finding ways to stay in the race.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is also expected back next week, while Jason Dickinson should return during the coming homestand, which gives Edmonton another path toward getting its lineup closer to whole. For Vancouver, the concern is obvious: a team that has already been winning despite limited offensive production may be on the verge of getting more dangerous at exactly the wrong time. [Read more 🡒]