WESTBURY, N.Y. -- Bo Horvat didn’t know what to expect.
When Anders Lee left signed with the Utah Mammoth this offseason, the New York Islanders suddenly were without a captain.
That all changed Monday when Horvat was announced as Lee's successor as Islanders captain.
"I wasn’t sure what was going to happen this year. Nobody really did," Horvat said Monday at the Islanders Golf Outing & Tennis Classic.
"It definitely caught me by surprise, but again, I just couldn't be more honored to be wearing that letter and representing Long Island.
This will be the second time the 31-year-old will be the captain of an NHL team, having held the position with the Vancouver Canucks from 2019 until he was traded to the Islanders on Jan. 30, 2023.
"It's so special," Horvat said. "I mean, it's amazing.
Obviously, experiencing it beforehand and knowing what it felt like made it a little bit easier. But it's still always such an honor, such a privilege.
It’s something I don't take lightly. I'm very proud to be part of this organization.
I'm very proud to be wearing this letter and representing not only the team but Long Island itself, and yeah, I just can't wait to get things going.
Peter DeBoer, who was hired as Islanders coach April 5, said other players were considered for the captaincy, including 19-year-old defenseman Matthew Schaefer. But in the end giving the honor to Horvat was a"fairly easy decision."
DeBoer said that while the alternate captains from the last season, forward Kyle Palmieri and defenseman Ryan Pulock, will have the same roles this season, the overall leadership group is"going to be a lot larger."
"Definitely the guys who wore A's last year are going to come back and they'll wear A's. But that leadership group around those guys is going to be significantly bigger than three people," DeBoer said.
"There's a lot of really good people: Mathew Barzal, Adam Pelech,'Palms. There's a lot of other guys -- Schaefer, obviously -- that whole leadership group.
I'm sure I'm leaving some guys out here. I'm going off the top of my head.
My daily interaction, I'll probably have more 1-on-1's with Bo than those other guys. But the direction our team moves will be from that group, not just from Pete DeBoer or Bo Horvat.
Horvat, who said he was congratulated by Lee, said he doesn't plan to change the way he operates.
“Obviously there's things that I have to do on a daily basis, like lead by example. I'm not going to be the loudest guy in the room.
It's just not who I am," Horvat said. "Trying to lead by example on and off the ice is my biggest thing and just continue to keep pushing forward and getting better.
Any way I can help the team is what I'm going to try to do.
Schaefer, selected by the Islanders with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and last season's winner of the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year, said he was ecstatic to see Horvat get the honor.
"It's awesome. So many guys can learn so much from him," Schaefer said.
"Coming from a former team, he was the captain there, and everybody respects him and listens to what he has to say. So it's awesome.
Even if he wasn't wearing a letter, everyone looks up to him still. It's going to be awesome if we have any young guys, but all the guys because they respect him so much, and he is such a great leader.
Schaefer is ready to learn from Horvat and the rest of the leadership group to hopefully one day get the honor for the organization.
"There’s so many vets. I'm still 19.
I want to learn from them and hopefully in the future, I can better my abilities, and we’ll see how they handle things because it's a lot of pressure sometimes when you have to make sure you're at your best all the time," Schaefer said. "But honestly, I think if you just be yourself, if you have leadership qualities and stuff like that, I think everything falls into place, and especially when guys respect you for who you are.
Horvat knows the illustrious list of players who have been the captain of the Islanders and is ready to leave his mark.
"Starting with Anders and (Denis) Potvin, Doug Weight, (John) Tavares when he was there, guys like that, there's a huge history in this organization and a successful history," Horvat said. "And we want to repeat that.
The ultimate goal is to win a Stanley Cup here and to bring a Stanley Cup back to Long Island. I want to be a reason that happens.
I think we're building towards that. I really truly believe in this organization,'Darchy' (general manager Mathieu Darche), and what we have here, what we're trying to build.
I want to be a big part of that.
Horvat has 618 points (300 goals, 318 assists) in 881 regular-season games, including 198 points (99 goals, 99 assists) in 260 games for New York. He is entering the fourth season of an eight-year contract he signed with the Islanders on Feb.
5, 2023, six days after he was acquired in the trade.
The Islanders, who open training camp this week, will begin their regular season at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sept. 30.
Nine NHL teams are without a captain: the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks and Canucks.
