Tallon open to Borgstrom joining team this season
CORAL SPRINGS — The future may arrive in Sunrise this season.
Top Panthers forward prospect Henrik Borgstrom, currently at the University of Denver, could join the team for a late-season playoff push, or even debut in the playoffs this season once the Pioneers season ends, Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said.
“We’ll see what happens at [Denver],” Tallon said. “We’re hopeful he has success again. The Frozen Four ends April [7]. We’ll just wait and see, want him to do the best he can now and support Denver and wish them the best and see what happens after that. Depends on how far they go and whether that’s relevant for us to put him in the lineup.”
The Panthers’ last regular-season game is April 8.
As a freshman last season, Borgstrom helped lead the Pioneers to a national championship, racking up 21 goals and 22 assists in just 37 games. This season, as a 20-year-old sophomore, Borgstrom was named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s Player of the Year and one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the best college hockey player. He has 21 goals and 28 assists in 36 games this season.
Borgstrom was originally a first-round draft pick (No. 23) in 2016 out of Finland.
The Panthers have stormed into the Eastern Conference playoff race since the All-Star break, going 16-4-1 since then to nearly erase a 12-point deficit in the standings. They entered today three points behind New Jersey, with two games in hand, for the second wild-card spot. Florida is four points behind Columbus, with three games in hand, for the first wild-card spot.
Denver plays in the semifinal of the NCHC’s conference tournament on Friday night against Minnesota-Duluth, and will play either in the championship or third-place game tonight. The Pioneers (ranked in the top five of two college hockey polls) are near-locks to make the NCAA tournament.
NCAA regionals are next weekend (March 23-25) and the Frozen Four is two weekends after that (April 5-7). Should Denver make a deep run in the tournament again, Borgstrom’s impact on the Panthers could be limited. Tallon said he would be fine with Borgstrom debuting in a potential playoff series.
“It wouldn’t matter to me,” Tallon said. “We want the best team. So if he makes us better, then he’ll be in the lineup. That’s the way it goes. Talent-wise, he can do it.”
Borgstrom’s arrival this season could also impact a potential expansion draft for Seattle’s franchise in the summer of 2020. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the All-Star break that Seattle’s draft would have the same rules as Vegas did last offseason: “I have no doubt if there is going to be another expansion team they are going to insist on having the same expansion terms.”
Under those rules, players with two or fewer seasons of professional hockey were exempt and did not have to be included in protected player lists. If Borgstrom plays in a game this season, then again the next two seasons, he would have to be protected.
As for where Borgstrom would play, he could be either a center or a wing in the NHL. The Panthers have used the same four centers for most of the season (Aleksander Barkov, Vincent Trocheck, Jared McCann and Derek MacKenzie), even forcing natural centers like Nick Bjugstad and Denis Malgin to the wing.
Borgstrom plays center in Denver, but could be forced to wing if he arrives this season.
“He’s been center most of his life, but he can play the wing,” Tallon said. “We’ve had to put Malgin and Bjugstad on the wings. It’s easier to put a center on the wing than to put a wing at center.”
Bjugstad went through what Borgstrom could be. After the University of Minnesota’s season ended in spring of 2012, Bjugstad made the jump directly from college to the NHL. He played 11 games in the final month, scoring his first career goal on the season’s final day.
Bjugstad said the transition was tough because of little things, like switching from a man-to-man defense in college to a zone one in the NHL — “It was like a whole other world for me” — plus other details. In college, teams typically play just twice a week. In the NHL, it’s double the workload.
“With so many games, it’s more of a chess match,” Bjugstad said. “It’s more systematic. If you mess up, it’s probably going in the back of your net.”