VANCOUVER, British Columbia — There was nothing like the wall of media that awaited Bo Horvat at Rogers Arena a year ago Thursday, but you don’t need to look far to see some No. 53 sweaters emblazoned with the “C” on the streets surrounding the Canucks’ home arena.
“Sometimes, I forget to sign the 53 instead of the 14,” Horvat quipped Thursday morning before the Islanders smashed the Canucks, 5-2. “So, sorry if I did that to you out there.”
It’s been 22 months since Horvat played for the home team here, but it’s still strange for him to come back.
Horvat, though, was pretty well aware from the start of that 2022-23 season that he eventually would be shipping out of Vancouver after the cap-strapped Canucks signed J.T. Miller to an eight-year extension, meaning they wouldn’t have the room to re-sign him.
Aatu Raty, who was part of the return package the Islanders sent back, along with Anthony Beauvillier and their 2023 first-round pick, had no clue a move was comingplayed on Vancouver’s fourth line Thursday night.
“I feel like it’s something if you haven’t been traded, you feel like it’s not going to happen,” said Raty, who was regarded as the Isles’ best prospect at the time. “I look at the room, I don’t think I was massively talked about to get traded. None of my friends were saying anything about that or anything.
“It was definitely a shock. I wasn’t on my phone, I wasn’t in the room with my phone, so I think I found out like three hours later. That was not great.”
Raty, who spent last season at the Canucks’ AHL affiliate in Abbotsford, was facing the Islanders for the first time Thursday, which also happened to be his 22nd birthday.
“This was definitely marked up in the calendar,” Raty said jokingly.
Clearly, that was also the case for Horvat, who flew down the ice, beating multiple Canucks along the way before feeding Anders Lee for the Islanders’ fourth goal of the night at 11:42 of the third.
“I don’t have as many nerves as I did last year, for so many reasons,” he said. “I think having that experience last year definitely helps coming in. It’s still nerve-wrecking, still weird. … It’s fun to be back.”
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said Travis Mitchell’s call-up Wednesday was not related to anyone’s performance but merely was meant to give the Islanders an extra body while on the West Coast.
It remains a possibility that Alexander Romanov, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, returns to play at some point on the trip, but No. 28 continued to wear a non-contact jersey at Thursday’s morning skate.