During last season, the contract status that was talked about most in Vancouver was J.T. Miller's. The 2022-23 season stood to be the last one he'd be under contract with the team, and there was plenty of trade speculation, given Miller's age (29) and the Canucks' unclear path forward.
But then, surprisingly, Miller was extended in the off-season, signing a seven-year deal with an $8 million AAV that will kick in for the 2023-24 season. No longer will we wonder about his future with the team.
That focus has now shifted to the captain. Bo Horvat, 27, is in the final year of his contract and will become an unrestricted free agent next July if he's not signed before then. While there was optimism all summer that an extension would get done, the Canucks are now one game into their season, and Horvat remains without a deal in place.
"I think both sides have tried, but disagreement happens," Horvat's agent, Pat Morris, said Thursday on radio program Donnie and Dhali. "I always see the best agreement always is the one they don't like and the one we don't like. That creates an agreement. But we haven't found that level yet.
"Some of these things take time," Morris continued. "It's not every single player that gets an extension. If there's a disagreement, it doesn't happen. If there's not a meeting of the minds or a consensus, you can't get something done. You're always hopeful when you start out. Vancouver always told me they like Bo Horvat a lot and they have him under contract for this year, but not beyond unfortunately."
Should Horvat hit the open market, he could join an interesting collection of centres who all have contracts set to expire in July. Detroit's Dylan Larkin and the Blues' Ryan O'Reilly are two of the bigger potential names, so Horvat would become a high-value target for teams at the very important pivot position.
What could an AAV look like on an extension for Horvat? One comparable being thrown around is Sean Couturier, who re-upped with the Philadelphia Flyers in August of 2021 with a $7.75 million cap hit.
Horvat currently makes $5.5 million against the cap.
Morris was asked if the beginning of the season was a cut-off point in negotiations, possibly to be opened again after Vancouver's year ends, but the agent didn't indicate where talks would go from here.
"I'm not going to get into whether we'll talk about Bo," Morris said. "That's not up to me at this point. That's a private matter between Bo and I."
But Morris did say that Horvat does enjoy playing in Vancouver and being captain of the Canucks, so the pathway to a deal does exist.
"I think when he came back to Vancouver before training camp, he expressed himself to the media of Vancouver he's the captain of Vancouver he enjoys it, he likes the routes of the team and certainly the city. He's very involved in the community. Any time you choose to talk about an extension you're expressing yourself on how you feel about the location you're in. So he gave me instructions to start discussion and negotiation with Vancouver so it's clear he was in the position to want to stay for a long term and conclude his career if he controlled it."
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.