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Bloodline and blue line: The making of Rangers defenseman Will Borgen
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- Bloodline and blue line: The making of Rangers defenseman Will Borgen
Danny Wild-Imagn Images Danny Wild-Imagn Images
Long before Will Borgen
became one of the anchors on the New York Rangers
blue line, he was a three-year-old on a family ski trip in Montana. While his parents, Bill and Lori, hit the slopes, Will stayed behind with a family member who took him ice skating for the very first time.
"I'll never forget it," Bill chuckled. "We left him with a relative of Lori's and she took him skating, and he loved it. When we got back home, we put him in skating lessons. I remember him standing up and falling down, and all these kids were coming off the ice in tears — but Will came off talking about how good he was."
From that first tumble and grin, a thread was pulled for the future Rangers
defenseman — one that weaves through every arena, from backyard ponds to the grandest stages.
Photo courtesy: Bill Borgen
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As Will grew up in Moorhead, Minnesota, his love for hockey deepened. He played multiple sports — soccer, football, baseball — but hockey was his passion. Even as friends joined summer AAA teams, Will's parents encouraged him to play other sports and just enjoy skating locally.
"We'd drop him off at the rink, and 10 hours later, we'd have to fight to get him off the ice," Bill told Forever Blueshirts with a laugh. "He just never wanted to leave."
By the time he reached high school, Will chose to captain the Moorhead Spuds rather than leave to play major junior hockey, determined to represent his hometown.
"There was a lot of pressure from different people," Bill explained. "You know, you need to go play juniors. He was drafted in the WHL. And he's like, 'No, I'm playing for my high school team.'"
Will helped Moorhead reach the Minnesota State Tournament as a sophomore, though they didn't make it his junior and senior years. Still, his talent was undeniable.
"People would come up to me and say, 'I think your son's going to be in the NHL someday,'" Bill said. "I'd just laugh and say, 'How do you know?' But they saw it in him even then."
In those high school arenas, under Coach John Ammerman's guidance, Will's dual nature shone: a fierce competitor on the ice and a humble, grounded teammate off it.
Related: Born in Friartown, Forged for Broadway: Brett Berard's Rise with Rangers
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From high school captain to college standout
Photo courtesy: Bill Borgen
After making his mark in high school and 17 games in the USHL, Will was selected in the fourth round (No. 92 overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres . Will enrolled at St. Cloud State, 170 miles southeast from Moorhead, and quickly became known not only for his defensive prowess but for his calm, laid-back demeanor off the ice.
As Bill recalled, one of Will's teammates once described him as the most easygoing guy on the team — yet five minutes into his first college practice, he already challenged a senior on the ice.
"Off the ice, he's the most laid-back kid," Bill said. "But on the ice, he's got that fire. He can flip that switch in a heartbeat."
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Will was named to the NCHC All- Rookie Team after the 2015-16 season. Two seasons later as a junior, he won the NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year award.
Success in the NCAA and on international stage
Photo courtesy: Bill Borgen
During his season freshman season, Will traded in the red, white, and black of St. Cloud State to wear the red, white, and blue of his home country at the 2016 World Junior Championship. Skating alongside future NHL stars Auston Matthews
, Matthew Tkachuk
, and Zach Werenski
in Finland, with Ron Wilson, Chris Chelios, and Danton Cole behind the bench, Will played all seven games and helped the United States secure a bronze medal.
"He played great," Bill recalled. "He fit right in. I never realized he was at that level until I saw it."
The Borgens with Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Chelios. Photo courtesy: Bill Borgen
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Two years later, he was selected for Team USA's roster at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The NHL declined to allow its contracted players to participate in the Olympics that year, so the U.S. and other countries pulled from the college ranks, European leagues, and American Hockey League to build their teams. It opened a rare door for non-NHL players, including Borgen, who was a junior in college at the time.
Will didn't see any game action. But that wasn't a big deal to him.
"He told me, 'Don't feel sorry for me, Dad. I wore the sweater.' That was enough for him," Bill shared.
After the Olympics, Will and his United States teammate Troy Terry
drove straight from the airport to face each other in a college game — one day, teammates on the world stage; the next day, opponents back on home soil.
And as the world stage gave way to the promise of the pros, the same quiet fire carried Will forward — toward upstate New York.
Will Borgen lands in NHL: 'It's just incredible'
Borgen spent parts of two seasons developing with the Sabres' AHL affiliate in Rochester — including 71 games in 2018-19. He earned his first NHL call-up in March of 2019, and phoned both his parents with the news, sending the family into a frenzy to find flights east.
"It was surreal," Bill remembered. "We were on the phone with airlines, the Sabres' travel department, even Jason Botterill, who was the GM at the time, trying to figure out a way to get there ( Ottawa
). We looked at flights out of Winnipeg
, Minneapolis — there was just no way. So we all watched his first game (a 4-0 loss to the Senators) on TV."
They didn't miss the next three games Will played in the NHL, though.
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"After that first one we missed, we made sure we were there," Bill said with a laugh.
They followed him from Buffalo to Long Island, back to Buffalo again, sharing those first NHL days alongside him.
"To be in an arena with 17,000 fans and see your son's picture, your son's number up there — it's just incredible," Bill said.
For a family that once huddled around a television in Fargo-Moorhead, those first nights in Buffalo were more than hockey, they were proof that the dream had broken through, that the boy who wouldn't leave the rink now belonged beneath the bright lights of the NHL.
From the Emerald City to the Stanley Cup Playoffs
When the Seattle Kraken selected Borgen in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, he faced a new challenge on the West Coast. In his first season with the Kraken, Borgen skated in 36 games and tried to carve out a regular role on the blue line. By the next season, he became indispensable — playing all 82 games in 2022–23, then repeating the feat in 2023–24.
In the postseason, Borgen was a cornerstone of Seattle's defense. He played all 14 playoff games during the Kraken's run in the spring of 2023, helping secure the franchise's first-ever playoff series win against Colorado
. He scored his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal in Game 4 of the first round, a 3-2 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche
.
"We were there when he scored that playoff goal against Colorado," Bill said. "Moments like that make everything worthwhile. We were just so proud."
Will's journey in Seattle was a testament to his grit and growth, a transformation from role player to reliable fixture. Through it all, his family was there every step of the way.
But even the most promising chapters turn a page. And when the call finally came that he'd been traded to the Rangers
last December, it carried him from the Pacific Northwest to Broadway — into the heart of Madison Square Garden, where history lives and his own excitement spilled through every word.
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The call to Broadway
Danny Wild-Imagn Images
Will didn't bother with preamble. That's not how he delivers news. He was already en-route to the airport in Chicago when he called his dad, bags in hand, itinerary in motion, the kind of adrenaline you can hear even when someone speaks softly. Will was about to fly to Dallas to meet the Rangers and jump straight into the lineup that night against the Stars.
"I asked if he was good with it," Bill explained, "and he just went, 'Yeah, I'm really okay with it.' But you could hear it. He was excited."
He didn't need to temper it, this was the New York Rangers. Original Six. Madison Square Garden. A market that roars when it loves you and knows your name before you even lace a skate. It's the kind of stage players get up for, and he was already moving at game speed before putting the Blueshirt sweater on.
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A secret shared after contract signed with Rangers
Will Borgen gifts a pair of pucks to his nephews during warmups. Photo courtesy: Bill Borgen
It took less than two months with New York before Borgen inked a five-year, $20.5 million extension
with the Rangers, carrying an average annual value of $4.1 million. It marked both a financial milestone and a testament to his steady rise on the blue line.
But as Bill recalled, the news was hard to keep under wraps.
"Will said, 'Don't tell anyone yet, I haven't signed it,'" Bill explained. "But then a few minutes later, my dad calls me up, and he already knows. And then one of Will's friends from high school texts me saying, 'Hey, I heard Will's about to sign a big contract!' The news was out before he even put pen to paper."
It became a family joke, a moment of shared joy that spread like wildfire. For Will, the contract was more than just a deal; it was a celebration of how far he'd come, shared with the people who had always been in his corner.
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A family's love, a milestone nears
Grandma Betty's only wish for her 89th birthday was to see Will Borgen play in Minnesota. After the Rangers' 3–2 overtime win on March 13 last season, they shared this sweet moment in the stands. Photo courtesy: Bill Borgen
For all the miles hockey's carried Borgen, his journey always circles back to family. His dad, Bill, laughs that Will never makes a move without calling home first. His mom, Lori, has been in the stands at countless games. His stepmom, Terri, travels with Bill to arenas near and far. And his Aunt Jodi — "one of his biggest cheerleaders," Bill laughed warmly — is part of the folklore, proudly hyping her nephew at every turn.
The circle stretches wider still: his sister Jae, with whom he owns a lake home, "incredibly close," Bill said; his brother Nathan in Minneapolis, whose two young boys idolize their Uncle Will; his sister Mackenzie in Florida
, whose baby boy carries the family name William. Even Will's grandparents, Kurt and Betty, are constants at ninety-one and eighty-nine. They still watch every game, grateful he's now on the East Coast so the puck drops earlier.
The Borgen siblings. Photo courtesy: Bill Borgen
It's these ties that shape him. The player on Broadway is still the boy who stayed ten hours at the rink, the brother, the uncle, the son. And as Will Borgen strides into his future in Rangers blue, he does so not alone, but carried by the love of a family that has been with him at every turn.
And soon, another milestone awaits: his 300th NHL game, set to be played, ironically, in Buffalo on Oct. 9. For his family, it will be a circle completed — proof that the journey, with all its miles and memories, led him back to where the dream first was realized.
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