Horvat was a scoring machine in the post-season as he recorded 12 points in 17 games; his 10 goals still leads the NHL despite the Canucks having been shutout in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semi-Final and Horvat not having played over the last five nights. Horvat's 10 goals put him in elite company alongside Pavel Bure and Trevor Linden as the only three Canucks in franchise history to reach double digit goals in a single post-season. Bure had 16 in 1994, while Linden scored 12 that same run.
Horvat said his game thrived because Vancouver's team game thrived.
"That was some of the best hockey we played all year and I think we grew a lot as a hockey club," said Horvat. "We matured a lot, we have a lot of young guys that haven't played in the playoffs and they came in and played unbelievable for us right away, so we did a lot of good things and played a lot of great hockey. It was a step in the right direction for what's to come here in Vancouver."
Near the end of the almost 20-minute Zoom call, Horvat was asked if he would be in favour of going into a bubble again if the NHL moved forward with similar scenario in the future.
He took his time answering.
"It was tougher than I thought, mentally," said Horvat. "Being away from your family and not knowing when you were going to see them…would I do it again…I don't know. If my family could come and spend that time with us from the beginning, I'd have no problem doing it, but being away from them for that long was tough."
Chris Tanev echoed Horvat's sentiments, adding that the team was on an emotional rollercoaster in the bubble.
"The more days you spend in the bubble, obviously the tougher it does get," explained Tanev. "There's a lot of highs and lows, when you win a game everyone is happy and together and it's easy when everyone is in a good mood. It's harder after a loss."
Would Tanev be in favour of another bubble scenario? That's actually the furthest thing from the 30-year-old's mind right not because the defenceman, who has been with the Canucks for 10 seasons, enters this off-season without a contract. He's an unrestricted free-agent.
He made it clear he's hoping to stay right where he is.
"I love Vancouver, Kendra and I definitely view it as one of our homes," said Tanev. "We love the city, we love everything about Vancouver, it's an awesome place and we spent the whole time during the Covid lockdown there, we didn't go back to Toronto as we normally would.
"I love the team, I love the city, I love everything about Vancouver," he added. "Hopefully I can end up staying there. We'll see what happens as the next few weeks go by and that will determine everything for the future."
