The 2023 NHL trade deadline lost a whole lot of spice Monday night with the Canucks’ decision to get ahead of things and ship captain Bo Horvat out of Vancouver well over a month before the closing bell of the deadline.

And in a market full of potential heavy hitters (namely the division-leading Bruins and Hurricanes in the East) watching and following Horvat and his status with the obviously-and-painfully rebuilding Canucks, it was the Islanders who made the decision to pounce and acquire the 27-year-old center.

(Yes, the same Islanders currently sitting two points behind Pittsburgh for the final wild card spot and with the Isles having played three more game than the Penguins to date.)

• The crown jewel of this year’s deadline, Horvat’s move to the Islanders come in the midst of a season headlined by a career-high 31 goals through 49 games.

  His 31 goals rank eighth among all NHL shooters (and every name ahead of him is a legitimate Hart Trophy candidate or challenger at the very least), and his 21.7 shooting percentage is not only a career-high, but it’s also second among the group of 157 NHL shooters with at least 100 shots on goal this season.

  With 54 points on the board as well, the lefty-shooting Horvat is also just seven points away from his single-season career-high of 61 points, which was established during the 2018-19 season.

  The 6-foot-0, 215-pound Horvat has also been one of the league’s best faceoff men, with Horvat’s 625 faceoff wins in 2022-23 second to only Patrice Bergeron and his 689 wins at the dot. And among a group of 21 centers with at least 800 faceoffs taken this season, Horvat’s 56 percent success rate at the dot ranks sixth, trailing only the Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews, Boston’s Bergeron, Toronto’s John Tavares, the Kings’ Anze Kopitar, and NY’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

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  Jan 15, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Vancouver Canucks center Bo Horvat (53) hands a fan a puck after coming off the ice after the warmup before the game against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. (James Guillory/USA TODAY Sports)

• To bring Horvat, who remains a pending free agent in the immediate aftermath of the deal, to Long Island, Lou Lamoriello and the Isles parted with forward Anthony Beauvillier, prospect Aatu Raty, and a 2023 first-round pick.

  Beauvillier, the No. 28 overall pick from the 2015 NHL Draft, is the lone NHL piece of the deal, and departs the Islanders with 102 goals and 209 points in 457 games with the club. The 25-year-old wing was at his best in 2017-18 with a career-high 21 goals, and set a career-high in points in 2019-20 with 39 points in 68 games played.

  Shooting luck has dried up for the 5-foot-11 forward of late — he’s scored just 21 goals on 267 shots since the start of last season (a 7.9 shooting percentage) — and he is in the second year of a three-year, $12.45 million contract signed in 2021.

  Raty, a second-round pick of the Isles back in 2021, has totaled seven goals and 15 points in 29 AHL games over the last two seasons, and has two goals in 12 NHL contests. The 6-foot-2 forward put up three goals and 10 points for Finland in the 2022 World Junior Championships last summer.

  The first-round pick sent to Vancouver, meanwhile, will be a top-12 protected pick.

  The Canucks are retaining 25 percent of Horvat’s remaining salary for the 2022-23 season, too.

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  Dec 16, 2021; Elmont, New York, USA; New York Islanders left wing Anthony Beauvillier (18) shoots against Boston Bruins defenseman Mike Reilly (6) during the second period at UBS Arena. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)

• Gotta say, it’s not exactly the home run kind of return you would have expected given both Horvat’s success this year and the Canucks’ need to truly knock this one out of the park as a team stuck in that icky middle.

  Beauvillier’s value has obviously tanked as his shooting success has gone to hell, and the Canucks are kinda already loaded with underachieving wingers or wingers you watch and think, “This guy should be better.” Raty, a natural center, could be something (and that’s the obvious hope), but the 20-year-old hasn’t exactly dominated since coming over to North America from Finland a couple years back.

  The first-round pick sent to Vancouver was an obvious win (and a must for the Canucks in any trade), but the top-12 protection on it, while better than an end-of-round pick from Boston or Carolina, hurts its value.

  Now whether or not this becomes a truly ‘great’ deal for the Islanders likely comes back to whether or not they can turn Horvat into a long-term fit with the club. They do have the cap space to make it happen, and that seems to be the goal for Lamoriello & Co. with the deal official.

  The sides did not talk about an extension in the immediate aftermath of the deal.

  In the now, however, Horvat gives the Islanders an extremely deep center group with the ex-Canucks captain joining a middle of the ice grouping that includes Mathew Barzal, J.G. Pageau, and Casey Cizikas.

  He’ll also provide a serious boost to a New York offense that enters Tuesday ranked 25th in goals per game (2.85) and 31st on the power play (15.5 percent success rate).

  They could and would be an absolute handful should they qualify for the 2023 postseason.

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  SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – JANUARY 25: Bo Horvat #53 of the Vancouver Canucks looks on during the first period against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on January 25, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

• With Horvat off the market, Chicago’s Jonathan Toews immediately becomes the next-best center that will absolutely be available ahead of the 2023 trade deadline.

  Toews, who does possess a full no-movement clause and has complete say when it comes to his future, is in the midst of a major bounce-back season, with 14 goals and 28 points through 46 games for a downright terrible Blackhawks group. The 34-year-old Toews has also been a menace at the faceoff dot, with a career-high and league-leading 63.3 percent success rate at the dot this season.

  Toews, of course, captained the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup championships from 2010 through 2015.

  The list of other centers who could be available between now and the trade deadline includes the Blues’ Ryan O’Reilly (though he’s currently out with a foot injury) and the Red Wings’ Dylan Larkin.

  The 2023 NHL trade deadline is Friday, Mar. 3 at 3 p.m.

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