NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In a change of plans, Bo Horvat did not accompany the Islanders for the start of this seven-game road trip. But general manager Mathieu Darche hopes the top-line center joins the team before the trek ends on Jan. 21 and expects Horvat, selected to Team Canada, to play “way before” next month’s Olympic break.
Darche, speaking to the media before the Islanders faced the Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night, also said he has yet to engage in significant contract extension talks with pending unrestricted free agents Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau but would be comfortable retaining them past the trade deadline on March 6 even without new deals.
Horvat, who leads the Islanders with 21 goals and is second with 33 points, missed his third game with a lower-body injury that Darche said was different from the lower-body issue that kept Horvat sidelined for five games from Dec. 13-23.
“I know, initially, we thought we’d bring him right away,” Darche said. “We decided him to keep him home – he might join us on the trip – just for some treatment we wanted to do. It would be easier for everyone to do that in New York. I definitely expect him way before the Olympic break [which starts on Feb. 6]. I’d like [him to play] at the end of this trip but, if it’s not, it’s not the end of the world.”
Darche added of Horvat’s current injury, “They’re similar without necessarily being linked. It somewhat irritated the same area.”
But he also said the team doctors believe Horvat would have suffered the second injury even if he hadn’t been hurt the first time.
As for healthy forwards, Lee is in the last season of a seven-year, $49 million deal and Pageau is finishing out a six-year, $30 million deal.
“We said at the beginning of the year, let the season go, so we haven’t talked lately,” Darche said. “I talk with the players all the time so they know where I stand. We’re still going through the season and we’ll see where it goes. I don’t give myself a deadline, necessarily. They know I’m happy with them. They know I’m happy they’re part of our team.”
Lee, who turns 36 two days after the free-agent market opens on July 1, said he has never given thought to playing for another team. He made his NHL debut with the Islanders on April 2, 2013, and is in his eighth season as captain, matching Hall of Famer Denis Potvin (1979-87) for the longest tenure wearing the “C” in team history.
“I understand the situation,” Lee said. “We want to put ourselves in a position where we’re adding [players] at the deadline. That’s been this team’s goal the entire season, to put ourselves back in the playoffs.”
Pageau, 33, was acquired from his hometown Ottawa Senators in 2020. He said Darche, in his first season as the team’s GM, was “open” with him from the start about how he would approach contract talks.
“At least we know,” Pageau said. “We try to control what we can and, right now, it’s being a good teammate and trying to win every night, try to be the best that I can be every night. I’m an Islander and we want to keep climbing in the standings. That’s my goal.”
Goalie David Rittich, 33, who started against the Predators, is also a pending unrestricted free agent after signing a one-year, $1 million deal because of Semyon Varlamov’s uncertain future after last season’s knee injury.
Darche said any potential contract extension talks with Rittich are being handled the same as with Lee and Pageau.
He added while Varlamov, 37, in the third season of a four-year, $11 million deal, has made some progress in terms of dropping to block shots as he works on his own, there remained no timetable for a potential return.
“There’s a reason why we signed David Rittich, because we didn’t know what to expect [with Varlamov],” Darche said. “His situation won’t affect what I do with David because we don’t have an endgame right now with Varly.”
Darche also added defenseman Alexander Romanov, who injured his right shoulder on Nov. 18, has not resumed skating but could be available at some point after the playoffs begin.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.