Seattle Kraken sign Will Borgen for 2 years, avoid arbitration
The Seattle Kraken kept defenseman Will Borgen in town with a 2-year, $2.7 AAV contract Friday.
Will Borgen, signed 2x$2.7M by SEA, is a steady defensive defenceman who kills penalties. Moves the puck out of the zone with efficiency. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/ATREZZBmV0
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 7, 2023Borgen spent most of 2022-2023 alongside Jamie Oleksiak on Seattle’s second pair as the Kraken’s stifling even-strength defense won them their first-ever playoff berth. He played all 82 games, scoring 3 goals and 17 points while skating to a +11 rating.
Keeping Borgen for another two seasons shows that GM Ron Francis is committed to maintaining the shot-limiting culture that propped up a shaky goaltending battery throughout the regular seasons and two seven-game series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Seattle only surrendered 27 looks at their net per game in 2022-2023, the second-fewest in the NHL, and finished the season with the league’s 14th-best defense.
Borgen was a big part of those numbers and blocked 89 shots in over 16 minutes of ice time per night. While he is not a dominant two-way player, Borgen is a reliable bottom-four option and an original team member.
Though Borgen’s contract staves off an arbitration hearing and keeps him in Seattle until 2025, Francis and coach Dave Hakstol continue to round out next year’s defensive corps.
Hakstol will decide where Brian Domoulin, the 31-year-old career Pittsburgh Penguin brought in to replace the departing Carson Soucy, fits into his six without disrupting the all-world top pair of Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson.
Elsewhere, Francis is working on an extension for Dunn, another arbitration applicant who will likely become the highest-paid player in franchise history in the coming weeks after a 64-point season from the blue line. For now, he will be happy to have locked up Borgen.