Bo Horvat has been an unofficial part of the Islanders’ leadership group since arriving in New York, so stitching a letter onto his sweater only made sense now that there was an opportunity to do so.
Horvat, once the captain of the Canucks, will indeed sport an “A” when the Islanders open the season on Thursday night against the Utah Hockey Club, replacing Cal Clutterbuck as an assistant captain alongside Brock Nelson.
“I think it’s always an honor to wear not only the jersey but to have a letter on it is pretty special,” Horvat told The Post after Tuesday’s practice. “I don’t take that lightly and I want to represent myself and the team. Just play the right way every single night. I think me being a captain in the past is definitely helpful.”
Horvat was an alternate captain with the Canucks starting in March 2017, earning the ‘C’ at the start of the 2019-20 season.
That made him an obvious candidate to get a letter with the Islanders this season, though others such as Casey Cizikas or Noah Dobson would have been worthy as well.
After Nelson got a letter at the start of last season — replacing Josh Bailey as an alternate captain — two-thirds of the team’s official leadership has now turned over in the past two seasons, with Anders Lee staying constant as the captain.
“We have so many good leaders on this club. Talking with Lou [Lamoriello] and we felt he was ready — he was the captain in Vancouver — he was ready to step up there,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Did we have meetings over this? No. It just happened naturally. But is there a lot of guys that could have been an assistant? Yes. We’ve got tons of good leaders on our team.”
For Horvat, this is much more about a nice recognition than changing any of the duties he already performs.
He does not plan to change the way he goes about things within the dressing room or within the leadership group.
“I think just because you have a letter, it gets given to you, there’s a reason why,” Horvat said. “And it wasn’t because, obviously, I all of a sudden have to change because there’s a letter on my sweater. There’s so many guys in here that could be wearing it.”
Ilya Sorokin continued to practice with the team, but the Islanders have yet to commit to a plan regarding his usage on opening night.
“I’m probably gonna talk with [trainer] Damien [Hess] by the end of the day and see how [Sorokin] was and how he feels,” Roy said. “And tomorrow we’re probably gonna be in a better position and decide what we want to do.”
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