Will Borgen Looks to New Opportunity, Familiar Faces in Boston

BOSTON –– Will Borgen always felt Morgan Geekie had another level to his game.

The two new Boston Bruins teammates also crossed paths with the Seattle Kraken from 2021 to 2023. Geekie was not extended a qualifying offer by Seattle in June 2023 – that decision landed him in Boston as a free agent, en route to becoming a consistent 30-goal scorer in the Black & Gold.

“I think I could see it coming, that he would take off a little bit,” Borgen said. “We had a little bit of a log jam in Seattle of players. I’m really, really happy for him and I am happier to be back on the same side as him.”

Borgen and Geekie are now reunited. The Bruins acquired Borgen from the New York Rangers in exchange for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 conditional third-round pick on Wednesday. The right-shot defenseman has four years left on his contract, which carries an average annual value of $4.1 million.

“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,” Borgen said. “Geeks 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.”

The Moorhead, Minnesota, native also skated for St. Cloud University from 2015-18, where he was teammates with Mikey Eyssimont. Borgen, originally a fourth-round pick of the Sabres in the 2015 NHL Draft, spent two seasons with Casey Mittelstadt in Buffalo at the beginning of their careers, too. In May, Borgen represented Team USA at the 2026 IIHF World Championship and was teammates with Mason Lohrei, Alex Steeves and James Hagens.

“They all just kind of reached out, said you’re going to love it, said the guys are great,” Borgen said. “My phone was pretty busy yesterday.”

The 29-year-old blueliner played the last two seasons for the Rangers after getting traded from Seattle in Dec. 2024. Borgen had 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) through 75 games during the 2025-26 campaign while averaging 18:03 of ice time per night. He had the fifth-most hits on the New York team with 111.  

“Last season, it didn’t go the way any of us expected, so change is inevitable when your team doesn’t finish the way you want to finish,” Borgen said. “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. 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.”

Borgen adds depth and reliability to the B’s backend, which was a focus for general manager Don Sweeney on Wednesday. Boston also signed Connor Clifton to a two-year deal and Jordan Harris to a one-year contract.

“Will addresses some of the areas that we lose in Andrew Peeke, who was a really good contributor to our club, too. We wish him well,” Sweeney said. “Will’s got length, he skates well, he competes, he closes in the D-zone. Penalty killing is an area where we want to make sure we continue to take maybe a little load off of Charlie in some of those situations as a primary guy. So we can spread that around a little bit. We just like his overall experience; we like the size of the player and his overall attributes that he’s going to come in and complement our group.”