Rangers sign recently acquired defenseman to 5-year contract extension
Yesterday at 08:04 PM
The New York Rangers had gone through a deep and somewhat inexplicable slump in November and December when the team made what appeared to be a minor trade with the Seattle Kraken. The Rangers acquired defenseman Will Borgen in December and sent forward Kappo Kakko to the West Coast. The move has apparently done wonders for the Rangers as they have recorded a 7-0-3 mark in their last 10 games.
Their recent success clearly has been a relief to head coach Peter Laviolette and the Rangers players, and they have extended Borgen, signing him to a five-year, $20.5 million contract. The extension begins at the start of the 2025-26 season.
Borgen, 28, is a defenseman who specializes in locking down opposing forwards and blunting any offensive forays by Rangers opponents. He has scored 5 points in 50 games and rarely asserts himself into the offense. He has good size at 6-3 and 204 pounds, and he has clearly been a solid fit in the New York defensive rotation.
Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette has paired Borgen with K’Andre Miller on the team’s second defensive pair. The move appears to have steadied the Rangers defense and has helped New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin. Because Borgen has done a solid job on the defensive end, the Rangers have been allowing fewer high-danger chances and that has helped the stellar netminder give the team the kind of consistency in goal that was missing earlier in the season.
Rangers fighting for playoff spot
The Rangers were expected to fight for the Metropolitan Division title at the start of the season, but they went through a 4-15-0 slump in November and December. However, things have turned around in January as the team has recorded an 8-2-2 mark since the start of the new year.
The Rangers are currently on the outside of the playoff structure, but they are on the cusp of earning one of the Wild Card spots. They have a 24-20-4 record for 52 points, and that was just one point behind the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus currently occupies the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
However, this is likely to be a battle for as many as eight Eastern Conference teams since the standings are so tightly bunched and there are more than 30 games remaining in the regular season.
Borgen was originally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres and he played 14 games for that team over two years before he was acquired by the Kraken in the expansion draft. He had a notable season for Seattle in 2022-23 when he scored 3 goals and 17 assists while playing all 82 regular-season games. He finished the season with a plus-11 rating for the second-year team.
Borgen also played in 14 postseason games that year for the Kraken, scoring 1 goal and 2 assists while launching 10 shots on goal.
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