One day after being included on Team Canada’s roster for the 2026 Olympics, Islanders center Bo Horvat suddenly saw his participation fall into jeopardy after sustaining a lower-body injury in the third period of Thursday’s loss to the Mammoth. Today’s evaluation revealed he’s expected to be back in action before heading to Italy next month, although he will miss at least the next week, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Horvat, 30, had recently returned from a two-week absence due to another lower-body injury. Sources told Stefen Rosner of NHL.com that the injury he sustained yesterday is of a similar nature and should carry a similar return timeline.
While those injuries have provided the Ontario native with some bumps in the road, he’s persisted to churn out a career-best offensive performance to earn him a spot on the world’s biggest stage as NHLers return to the Olympics. He had two goals in four games in his return to the lineup to boost his season totals to 21 goals and 33 points in 36 appearances.
The Isles’ top scorer and second-most used forward behind Mathew Barzal, Horvat is also averaging a career-high 20:30 of ice time per game as a true all-situations center. His 57.6 faceoff percentage is the eighth-best clip among the 45 players with at least 500 total faceoffs this season.
While concern over Horvat’s Olympics availability no longer abounds, there’s still the question of how the Islanders will navigate another multi-game stretch without him. Barzal will center the top line between Anders Lee and Emil Heineman to start, per Denis Gorman of the Associated Press, while second-year winger Maxim Tsyplakov will get a look in a second-line role after serving as a healthy scratch in nine of New York’s last 11 games.
Instead of placing Horvat on injured reserve, the Islanders opened a roster spot this morning by reassigning defenseman Marshall Warren to AHL Bridgeport. Warren, 24, had appeared in six straight games and has three assists in eight games on the year, the first appearances of his NHL career. Ice time has been limited, though, with the Long Island native averaging only 11:29 per game.
With Warren down, the Islanders can recall a forward from AHL Bridgeport before Saturday’s game against the Maple Leafs if they wish. However, with 13 healthy forwards still on the roster without Horvat and two games left on their homestand, there might not be a corresponding move.
Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.