Islanders Look Clear Winners in Bo Horvat Trade as Aatu Raty Heads to Toronto

The Bo Horvat trade was never a simple talent swap, but the pieces Vancouver collected have gone in very different directions. Horvat is now the Islanders' captain and the emotional center of the room. Aatu Raty, once the prospect the Canucks valued most, has been moved again, this time to the Toronto Maple Leafs. My read is that the Islanders' side of this deal has become easy to defend, and the other pieces explain why.

How the Horvat deal came together

The Islanders traded for Horvat in 2023, and the cost raised eyebrows at the time. The Canucks were dealing with a contract stalemate with their captain. Rather than watch him leave as a free agent, they moved him to Long Island. Horvat didn't see that coming. He believed his camp and Vancouver's management could still find common ground, so the deal landed on him as a surprise.

That's the context that matters. Teams in Vancouver's position often face a choice between getting something back for a player or losing him for nothing, and the Canucks chose the first option. The question was always what they got in return, and what they got has aged unevenly.

Beauvillier, the 2023 first, and the Hronek detour

Anthony Beauvillier was the first piece, and he didn't work out in Vancouver. The Canucks ended up moving him to the Chicago Blackhawks for a fifth-round pick. That's a clear sell-low, and it's the kind of outcome a team takes when a player's value has dropped and the return has to be salvaged rather than maximized.

The other key piece was a 2023 first-round pick. Vancouver used it in the Filip Hronek trade with Detroit, and the Canucks landed a defenseman who has been a strong piece for them. Hronek isn't technically part of the Horvat package, so he shouldn't be counted in the ledger. Still, the pick's path is worth noting. The Red Wings took defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka with it. Vancouver's rebuild could use a young blueliner like that, and it's a reminder of how one pick can trace a long line through several deals.

Why Raty was the centerpiece

Raty was the most intriguing name in the whole deal. He was a second-round pick who was projected to have top-six potential, and he was one of the Islanders' best prospects at the time, if not the best. That's the reason Vancouver wanted him. If Beauvillier was a placeholder in the Horvat exchange, Raty was supposed to be the long-term answer at the position Horvat was leaving behind.

It didn't go that way. Raty didn't live up to expectations in his first couple of stints with the Canucks. His development path looked stronger in the AHL, where he led the Abbotsford Canucks to the Calder Cup in 2025. That kind of playoff run usually signals real growth, and for a while it looked like the bridge to the NHL was close.

The translation never fully happened. Last season Raty managed just 14 points in 66 NHL games, on a Vancouver team that had a rough year. Success in Abbotsford didn't carry over to the top level, and the gap between the two levels became the story of his career in Vancouver.

The waiver wire and the trade to Toronto

This season, first-year coach Manny Malhotra made the call. Malhotra had coached Raty in Abbotsford, so he knew the player well, and he had seen enough. Raty cleared waivers and was eventually traded to Toronto, a move that some Leafs observers called a quiet pickup.

The reason for the Toronto deal is more mechanical than dramatic. The Maple Leafs had all 50 NHL contract slots filled. To bring Raty in, they sent two players to Vancouver, which meant they added one player while freeing up one contract spot. That's the entire logic of the trade. Toronto needed roster flexibility, and Raty's contract gave them a way to get it. It isn't a verdict on his potential, but it does show how little value a player on the margins can carry when a team is at the cap of its roster limit.

Where this leaves the Islanders and the Canucks

Here's the thing: the Islanders gave up a prospect who once looked like a future top-six forward, and they got a captain who has become the foundation of the franchise. Horvat's presence has been the main reason the trade has held up, and his leadership on Long Island is the piece that never shows up in a prospect ranking. That's the kind of return a team can build around.

Raty's path is less clear. There's a chance Islanders fans see him in the NHL again, but that looks doubtful at this point. Players who fall out of the NHL rotation often need a clean role and a long stretch of consistent minutes to rebuild their confidence, and that's hard to find on a roster in transition. Still, you can't help but wonder whether he would have reached his potential if he had stayed on Long Island, where he was expected to be Horvat's successor.

That said, the bottom line is hard to argue with. Raty's fall makes the Horvat trade look lopsided in New York's favor. For the Canucks, the return has been a mix of a fifth-round pick, a useful defenseman who came through a separate trade, and a prospect who never fully arrived. For the Islanders, the captain they wanted has delivered, and the trade is still the best piece of evidence for why they made it. Watch how Raty develops in Toronto, because that's the next chapter in a deal that has already produced a clear winner.