Kraken, defenseman Will Borgen agree on two-year contract

On Friday, the Seattle Kraken announced that they came to a new arrangement with restricted free agent (RFA) defenseman Will Borgen for two years, $2.7 million AAV.

Borgen was on the list of 22 NHL players who elected salary arbitration, alongside 2022-23 teammates and fellow defensemen Vince Dunn and Cale Fleury, but a deal was worked out before his case.

Borgen, 26, set career highs in goals (three), assists (17), points (20), games played (82), hits (203) and blocked shots (89). He ranked second on the Kraken in hits and fourth in blocked shots, and was one of 14 skaters last season to combine more than 200 hits and 80 blocked shots. He had one goal and two assists through 14 games of his first Stanley Cup playoff run.

The six-foot-three, 204-pound defenseman has played in 132 career regular-season games for the Kraken and the Buffalo Sabres, totaling 28 points (five goals).

Minnesota native Borgen was drafted by the Sabres in the fourth round (92nd overall) in 2015 out of St. Cloud State. He was Seattle’s selection from Buffalo in the 2021 expansion draft. He got off to a slow start in Seattle and was scratched frequently during the inaugural season but found a permanent place on the blue line in 2022-23, first on the third defensive pairing with Carson Soucy, then the second with Jamie Oleksiak.

On the topic of arbitration, players and teams can elect to bring their case to a neutral third party in order to figure out salary amounts. Evidence is allowed to be presented, including a player’s statistics as they relate to performance, injury history, length of service, leadership and comparable compensation to other RFAs. If a team decides to decline the arbitrator’s decision, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent (UFA) and can sign anywhere.

Few players actually reach their scheduled hearings. In 2021, 20 different arbitrations were filed — Dunn among them — and every player and team came to an agreement before the scheduled hearings. Dunn’s deal was announced about a week before his date. That could easily happen again with one of the Kraken’s top defensemen, who like Borgen, enjoyed a career season in a larger role.

If necessary, arbitration hearings usually take place in late July or early August.

If a team does not send a qualifying offer to their RFA to begin with, they become an UFA, which is what happened to Morgan Geekie and Daniel Sprong. Both immediately signed with other teams.