Coming in at #14 is a defenseman that Sabres fans were able to catch a glimpse of during the 2018-2019 NHL season. Rochester’s Will Borgen stepped it up in both DBTB rankings and on the ice this year. While he was only called up to Buffalo for four games and did not add to the scoreboard, Borgen’s first full professional season went well as he ended with a +8 with 14 points and 56 penalty minutes for the Amerks.
Prior to playing in Rochester, Borgen spent three seasons at St. Cloud State in Minnesota, his home state. During his final season with the Huskies (2017-2018), he earned the title of defenseman of the year by the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and signed his professional contract that March.
Internationally, he represented the U.S. at the 2016 World Junior Championships (where he tallied three assists) as well as at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Additionally, it is hard to ignore the elephant in the room for the last decade – which has arguably been various problems on the blue line. The Sabres have lacked grit and Borgen may be able to bring some of that back to Key Bank Center with his strong, physical playing style.
Hopefully with a new coach and the roster shakeup that has taken place this off-season, Borgen will be given more opportunities to shine come this fall.
#25 Miska Kukkonen
#24 Linus Weissbach
#23 Andrew Oglevie
#22 Jacob Bryson
#21 Casey Fitzgerald
#20 Marcus Davidsson
#19 Matej Pekar
#18 Ryan Johnson
#16 Oskari Laaksonen