Andrew Gross: Islanders' Bo Horvat and Ondrej Palat will keep their game legs going at Winter Olympics
The Islanders' Bo Horvat skates for Team Canada during the 2025 Ice Hockey World Championships on May 10, 2025 in Stockholm, Sweden. Credit: Getty Images/Michael Campanella
It had been five weeks of anticipating but not allowing himself to look ahead to the Olympics. Finally, Bo Horvat’s focus turned to Milan, Italy.
The Islanders’ postgame room at Prudential Center was nearly empty after Thursday night’s 3-1 win over the Devils, with Horvat scoring the winner. Anders Lee, at the adjacent locker, clasped hands with his teammate, gave him a hug and wished him the best. Horvat beamed with giddy excitement.
Horvat (Team Canada) and Islanders linemate Ondrej Palat (Team Czechia) are the team’s two Olympians. The way they compartmentalized their twin loyalties while prioritizing the Islanders until the final buzzer sounded for the Olympic break was admirable.
“I try not to look too far ahead and just focus on the game-by-game here,” Horvat said before Thursday’s game. “Obviously, when you get over there, you can consider yourself an Olympian. Even just to be named to the team has been special.”
This will be the 30-year-old Horvat’s first Olympics, though he played for Team Canada in the IIHF World Championships in 2018 and 2025.
Palat, 34, played in the 2014 Sochi Games, the last time NHL players participated in the Olympics. He said it’s fairly easy to flip the switch between playing for an NHL team and playing for one’s country.
“We did that a couple of times already,” said Palat, acquired from the Devils on Jan. 27. “It’s the same thing after the season with the World Championships. You just go to a different team and you go through the systems. Then you come back and you’re pretty familiar with the system here and the guys here. Nothing crazy or special.”
The difference between the NHL regular season and best-on-best international tournaments is very noticeable in terms of intensity and pace of play.
Horvat and Palat will be in Italy when the Islanders are allowed to resume practicing on Feb. 17. But even with a week-plus of practices, the non-Olympian Islanders are likely to be very rusty when the season resumes on Feb. 26 in Montreal.
In that way, having Horvat and Palat participate in the Winter Games can benefit the Islanders.
“Keeping your game legs,” Horvat said. “Keeping that pace. These are going to be highly competitive games. Fast. Coming back with that experience, to be exposed to that kind of play, hopefully it translates coming back and you come back with that same pace and that same intensity for the rest of the season.”
Horvat did cop to scrolling social media and the internet for images of what awaited him.
“It’s fun to see,” he said. “You get different snapshots of the village. You get different snapshots of the rinks and the facilities. It makes me that much more excited to get over there. You’re not going to get the full experience until you actually get over there and you’re a part of it. I’m just really looking forward to getting over there.”
Finally, Horvat could allow himself to feel that.
Staying positive, but . . .
Jonathan Drouin is the Islanders’ most mystifying player at the Olympic break.
Well-respected around the NHL for his playmaking and two-way game over 12 seasons with four teams, Drouin has never been known as a shoot-first player. But his three goals in 51 games certainly is less than what he and the Islanders expected when he signed a two-year, $8 million deal to play in the top six.
He brought a 34-game goal drought into the Olympic break, but to be fair, he notched only two goals in 44 games for the Canadiens in 2020-21 and another two in 58 games for the same club two seasons later. But he had 11 goals in 43 games for the Avalanche last season.
Drouin gets some good looks. He just hasn’t converted, which is a source of both hope and frustration.
“Bit of both,” he said. “At the moment, you’re mad it’s not going in. I’ve said it for a couple of weeks now, I’m not producing the way I wanted to this year. But you’ve got to look at the positive. You’re getting chances, you’re getting looks. When those looks go away, that’s when you start worrying about it.”
Drouin had one shot on net and one attempt blocked in Monday’s 4-1 loss in Washington, one shot in Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime win over the Penguins at UBS Arena and one missed shot in Thursday’s 3-1 road victory over the Devils.
He’s tied for ninth on the Islanders with 68 shots. His shot percentage of 4.4 is tied for 18th.
Drouin’s average time on ice of 17:17 is fourth among the team’s forwards, but if his production remains stagnant after the Olympic break, it will bear watching how long coach Patrick Roy will continue to give him significant five-on-five and power-play time.
The off button for Roy
It’s not only the players getting a physical and mental rest during the Olympic break.
Coaches need to get away from the grind, too, given the long hours of planning their jobs require.
Patrick Roy definitely is looking forward to some down time.
“Yes, absolutely,” he said after Thursday’s win. “I promise you for the next 10 days I won’t even open my computer. I’ll be ready when I come back.”
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.
