Insider Trading: Updates on Horvat and the NHLPA

With NHL training camps underway and the 2022-23 season around the corner, the Insider Trading panel takes a look at early storylines around the league, including Bo Horvat's contract status and the NHLPA's search to replace Donald Fehr. TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun joined Mark Roe to discuss.  

Mark Roe: Joined alongside our TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun, and with training camps underway, no shortage of big questions across the league including in Vancouver; Pierre, what's the latest on the Canucks extending their captain?

LeBrun: Well, the first thing I would say on the Bo Horvat front - he's UFA (unrestricted free agent) this year, as everyone knows - is that it's been quiet of late but those discussions date back three, four months, it's not like they're just getting going right now. Both sides have really laid out their positions, and my understanding is that there's a pretty sizable gap between those positions at the moment, which again: there's lots of time for the Canucks and Horvat's representatives to find a way over the next few months and it is the Canucks' absolute priority to get their captain signed to a long-term deal, but it's also true, I think, that the Canucks' front office feels a bit less pressure in the wake of J.T. Miller signing to get it done at all costs. In other words, they have a delicate salary cap position, and a Horvat extension has to fit within that long term. We'll see where this goes, but certainly my sense is that if Horvat is not signed by the March 3 trade deadline, there is a possibility the Canucks would trade him instead of losing him for nothing come July 1.  

Roe: The NHL Players' Association also has a big decision to make, Dregs,