Kurt Henrik Mikael Borgström (born 6 August 1997) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player who is currently playing with the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg. The current Bears club has played in the American Hockey League since the 1938–39 season maki ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL) while under contract with the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). He also played two seasons for the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

in the

National Collegiate Hockey Conference The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is an NCAA men's Division I hockey conference formed on July 9, 2011. The league began playing for the 2013–14 season, the same season that the Big Ten Conference began competition, as a combina ...

(NCHC). Borgström was an all-American at Denver and led the Pioneers to the 2017 NCAA Championship. Borgström was selected 23rd overall in the

2016 NHL Entry Draft The 2016 NHL Entry Draft was the 54th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 24–25, 2016 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. The first three selections were Auston Matthews going to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Patrik Laine go ...

by the Florida Panthers.

Playing career

Prior to his career at Denver, Borgström played in his native Finland within the junior program of the

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

organization. Borgström committed to playing for the

Denver Pioneers The Denver Pioneers are the sports teams of the University of Denver (DU). They play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Denver is a member of The Summit League for men's and women's basketball, swimming and diving ...

prior to the NHL Entry Draft. Ranked as a potential 3rd-round pick, Borgström ended up being selected 23rd overall in the

by the Florida Panthers, his second eligible NHL draft. At the end of the 2017–18 season, he was named a

Hobey Baker Award The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player. It has been awarded 41 times. It is named for Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton Universit ...

finalist, and a First-Team West All-American. On 26 March 2018, Borgström signed an entry-level contract with the Panthers. He made his NHL debut in an overtime loss to the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

on 29 March. Borgström's first NHL goal was the first of four Panthers goals in their last game of the season, a 4–2 win over the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

, on 8 April 2018. Unable to come to terms with the Panthers as a restricted free agent and with the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, set to be delayed through the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Borgström opted to return to his original Finnish club, signing a one-year contract with HIFK of the Liiga, on 4 October 2020. Approaching the playoffs with HIFK, on 8 April 2021, Borgström's NHL rights' were traded by the Panthers alongside

Brett Connolly Brett Connolly (born May 2, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for HC Lugano of the National League (NL). During his major junior career with the Prince George Cougars, he was named Western Hockey League (WHL) and Canadian Hocke ...

Riley Stillman Riley Stillman (born March 9, 1998) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Florida Panthers in the fourth round, 114th overall, of the 2016 NHL Entry ...

, and a 2021 7th round draft pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for

Lucas Carlsson Lucas Carlsson (born 5 July 1997) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Carlsson was selected 110th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2016 NHL Ent ...

and

Lucas Wallmark Lucas Wallmark (born 5 September 1995) is a Swedish professional ice hockey center who is currently playing for ZSC Lions of the National League (NL). He was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the fourth round, 97th overall, at the 2014 NHL E ...

. On 12 May 2021, as a restricted free agent, Borgström agreed to a two-year, $2 million contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. In the season, Borgström appeared in a career high 52 regular season games with the Blackhawks, however was unable to find his offensive touch in contributing with just 4 goals and 7 points. On 11 July 2022, Borgström was placed on unconditional waivers by the Blackhawks for the purpose of buying out the remaining year on his contract, he was released as a free agent the following day. On 14 July 2022, Borgström was signed to a one-year, two-way contract to join the Washington Capitals for the season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Borgstrom, Henrik 1997 births Living people AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Chicago Blackhawks players Denver Pioneers men's ice hockey players Florida Panthers draft picks Florida Panthers players Finnish ice hockey centres Hershey Bears players HIFK (ice hockey) players National Hockey League first-round draft picks Springfield Thunderbirds players Ice hockey people from Helsinki