Bo Horvat is 21.
Bo Horvat is an All Star.
This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise — Horvat has undoubtedly been the Canucks’ best player this season — but it’s still pretty incredible. At 21, Horvat is leading the Canucks in goals and points. He’s got 5 goals and 13 points in his last 13 games. At this point, he’s looking less and less like a future first-line centre and more and more like a current first-line centre.
Except, of course, for his ice time.
Horvat isn’t even second in ice time among the Canucks’ centres. That would be Henrik Sedin. Yes, Brandon Sutter leads all Canucks forwards in ice time, while Horvat, averages 17:25 per game.
That’s the lowest ice time among players heading to the All-Star Game, which isn’t surprising: most teams heavily lean on their best players and don’t overuse a player like Sutter.
One caveat: Frans Nielsen also averages 17:25 per game, but he’s honestly an odd choice for the All-Star Game. He has just 22 points this season, third on the Red Wings. You have to wonder if better choices out of Detroit like Thomas Vanek and Anthony Mantha declined the invitation after suffering injuries earlier in the season.
Horvat, on the other hand, is fully deserving of the All-Star nod and also fully deserving of playing more. He is second on the team in 5-on-5 points per 60 minutes of ice time (P/60) behind only his linemate, Sven Baertschi. In fact, Baertschi is 16th in the league in P/60. It’s not as simple as saying that if they had more ice time they’d be scoring even more, but it’s hard to argue that they should get less ice time.
That said, the argument could be made that Horvat and Baertschi are playing exactly the right amount and that their lower ice time is helping them more than hindering him. That argument might be bolstered if Willie Desjardins was more intentional with his line matchups to get the Horvat line out against weaker opponents.
But, for now, let’s leave aside the argument about whether Horvat is being deployed appropriately and instead celebrate the fact that he’s the youngest All Star for the Canucks since Pavel Bure. And also enjoy how the thumbnail for the video interview he did about being named an All Star makes him look adorably excited.
Horvat will get the chance to play with and against the best players of the 2016-17 NHL season and also Jonathan Toews.
Hey now, Bo’s an All Star.
