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The Vancouver Canucks made the right choice in deciding that the NHL was a better place for Bo Horvat than sending him back to junior after his ninth NHL game. The question now is whether they’ll free him up for Canada’s world junior team next month. A Canucks source told ESPN.com that the team will monitor whether the 19-year-old center continues to progress and make tangible contributions to the NHL club. And if that’s the case, he won’t be sent to the world juniors. But if there’s any sign of regression over the next few weeks, perhaps a trip to the world juniors in Montreal and Toronto, where he would be a key player, could be a great experience in his development. The Canucks have until the Dec. 19 NHL holiday roster freeze to decide. As of late, Horvat looks very much like an NHL player. Centering Vancouver’s fourth line, he looked right at home again Tuesday night in a 2-0 win over New Jersey. In particular, he went 7-1 in the faceoff dot, after going 13-3 on Sunday night against Chicago. He leads the Canucks with a 63 percent success rate in the circle. Tough call on the world juniors, but unless there’s an obvious drop-off, you have to think the Canucks will keep him around.
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