When the Boston Bruins signed Connor Clifton and Jordan Harris early on July 1 while missing out on bigger names like Jacob Trouba, John Carlson and Darnell Nurse, it was assumed that the B’s were done shopping for blueliners with some very modest returns.
But then late in the day on the first day of NHL free agent frenzy, the Bruins made their move to shore up the right side of their defense by trading draft picks (a second round pick in 2027 and a third round pick in 2028) to the New York Rangers for 29-year-old Minnesota native Will Borgen.
Luke Kunin with a hit from behind on Vincent Trocheck and Will Borgen takes exception 😳👊 pic.twitter.com/B7Nk38SShc
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) March 10, 2025
The former Sabres, Kraken and Rangers D-man isn’t a big point producer, sleek puck-mover or a power play quarterback, but what he is is a 6-foot-3, 199-pound defender that can kill penalties, stabilize things in the defensive zone and likely absorb top-4 minutes in a way that guys like Andrew Peeke, Henri Jokiharju and Mason Lohrei struggled with at times last season.
“My role, I feel like it’s always pretty much the same. I try to be competitive every night, play hard against the other team’s top players, if I can, if I’m playing against them,” said Borgen. “If I’m not, play hard against whoever. I try to play a physical game and mostly on the defensive side. If I can move the puck forward to the forwards and let them do their work, and every once in a while, if I can join. I don’t know where I’ll shake out in the lineup. But wherever it is, I’m just happy to help.”
The good news is that Borgen has friendly faces on this Bruins team like former Kraken teammate Morgan Geekie, and Casey Mittelstadt during his brief cup of coffee with the Sabres back in the 2018-19 season. It’s actually crazy looking back at that roster with old, familiar faces like Vladimir Sobotka and Matt Hunwick that logged games on that Buffalo hockey club that season as well.
That kind of familiarity will aid Borgen, even if switching up teams has become a little bit more like “old hat” to him at this point.
“It is always unexpected, but it is part of the job, part of business, and it happens. I just got the news, and I was very happy with where it was to. I love the city of Boston, and I know a handful of the guys on the team,” said Borgen back on July 1 while speaking to the Bruins media. “(Former Seattle teammate Morgan Geekie) texted me right away. It’s nice. I’m very happy to be back with him. Geeks is one of my good buddies from the hockey world.
“We always make it a point to see each other when we were playing against each other after our Seattle time together. We’re both very excited to be back together. He’s had nothing but good things to say about Boston, and the group especially.
It remains to be seen what other moves are left to reshuffle the Bruins defensive deck with 10 defenders entering camp with legit claims on an NHL spot, but one guy that isn’t going anywhere will be Borgen after he was one of the prized acquisitions to headline Boston’s offseason moves.
ONE TIMERS
*Pretty unfortunate news over the last couple of weeks that the annual Prospects Showcase in Buffalo that culminates B’s rookie camp is only going to be limited to two NHL teams this season with the Bruins and Sabres taking part. The rookie tournament had previously boasted teams like the Devils and Penguins bringing rookie teams as well, but this season it will be the young Bruins playing a pair of games (Sunday, Sept. 13 at 5 pm and Monday, Sept 14 at 12 pm) against the Sabres prospects before heading back to Boston for main camp.
*One of the more ridiculous offseason transactions in recent history could have an adverse effect on the Bruins after boy genius Penguins GM Kyle Dubas executed a massive unforced error by signing forward Ville Koivunen to an eight-year, $32 million contract after just 47 games at the NHL level. The linchpin of the Jake Guentzel trade has a grand total of two goals and 12 points at the NHL level and has been a point-per-game player in about 100 games at the AHL level thus far in his career.
But he is nowhere close to the kind of player that should be commanding an eight-year contract worth that kind of money as a restricted free agent that should be years away from that kind of term or dollars. It’s exactly the same kind of mentality from Dubas that caused him to lock up players in Toronto to long-term, big-money deals before they had done any kind of winning at the NHL level to prove they were worth that kind of investment and eventually led to the Leafs' flameout of the last couple of years while he parachuted away to Pittsburgh.
So how does it impact the Boston Bruins?
Well, 22-year-old Matt Poitras has more games played, more goals and more points, and has been a higher-impact player at the NHL level than Koivunen has been over the course of his career to this point. Nobody is implying that the Bruins should sign Poitras to an eight-year contract at this point, of course, but his camp now has a comparable that got significant term and money, and that will further muddy up a contract negotiation that has left Poitras as the only unsigned Bruins player to this point in the offseason.
Between the head-scratching Koivunen contract and the Flyers offer sheet for Leo Carlsson, the Metro Division GMs aren’t exactly winning themselves a lot of friends around the NHL at this point during the offseason.
*Congrats to good guy and Bruins head coach Marco Sturm for landing one of the highest civilian honors in his homeland of Germany as he received the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany a few weeks ago.
What an honor for the HC 🇩🇪
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) July 20, 2026
Coach Sturm recently received The Cross of Merit on Ribbon | Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, which is the nation’s highest civilian honor for outstanding service to the common good. pic.twitter.com/7i0A0Y6Yu0
That’s it for this week, see everybody at the rink!