Rangers defenseman Will Borgen gets 5-year contract extension
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New York Rangers defenseman Will Borgen. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Rangers have locked up one-sixth of their reconfigured defense corps by signing one of their newest blueliners.
Will Borgen has agreed to a five-year contract extension, the organization announced Saturday night. Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported on X that the deal has an annual average value of $4.1 million. A league source subsequently confirmed the details to Newsday.
Borgen, 28, was acquired from Seattle on Dec. 18 for Kaapo Kakko. In 17 games with the Rangers, Borgen has one goal, two assists and 29 blocked shots while averaging 18:35 of ice time. He has been partnered with K’Andre Miller on the second defense pairing.
Overall, Borgen has received 316 minutes of ice time as a Ranger, 297:23 at even strength. He has skated an additional 16:50 on the penalty kill and 1:47 on the power play.
Before the trade, Braden Schneider had been paired with Miller. Since Borgen’s acquisition, Schneider has been skating on the right side of the third pair with Urho Vaakanainen, whom the Rangers received in the Dec. 6 trade that sent Jacob Trouba to Anaheim.
Minor trade
Before Saturday’s practice, the Rangers announced they had acquired forward Lucas Edmonds from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Wolf Pack forward Ryder Korczak. Edmonds played in 26 games this season for Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, and had one goal and four assists. The 86th overall pick in the 2022 draft has 48 points (25 goals, 23 assists) in 120 career AHL games spanning three seasons with Syracuse . . .
Rangers stay focused
Chris Kreider smirked.
The longest-tenured Ranger had been asked for his reaction to division rival Carolina adding Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall in a seismic trade with Colorado and Chicago on Friday night.
His reaction was to feign surprise for a moment before growing serious.
“What happened? I haven’t seen anything,” Kreider said Saturday after the Rangers’ 45-minute practice at the MSG Training Center. “We’re worried about us, you know?”
Kreider’s response echoed those of his teammates and coach Peter Laviolette. They’re aware of the deal. But their focus heading into Sunday’s matinee with the Avalanche and Tuesday’s game against the Hurricanes — both at the Garden — is internal, not external.
“Good players changing teams,” Laviolette said, when asked for his thoughts. “We would have faced them anyway, right? Playing both teams, right? So nothing changes. They just change uniforms.”
Entering Saturday, the Rangers (24-20-4) were one point behind Columbus for the second Eastern Conference wild-card berth.
Because the Rangers have played themselves back into playoff contention, general manager Chris Drury might add to the roster instead of subtract from it. There has been much speculation in NHL circles that Drury is looking to remake the Rangers into a heavier team more suited for the Stanley Cup playoff grind, with Vancouver center J.T. Miller believed to be atop the wish list.
“That thought has not crossed my mind,” Laviolette said when asked if he expects Drury to make an addition by the deadline. “We’re doing our best to work our way up the standings. I think we’ve made a little bit of headway. We’ve got a ton of work to do.”
More Rangers
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