Capitals add depth center Henrik Borgstrom

After adding to their goaltending and defense, the Washington Capitals shifted their focus to forwards and made a ton of moves. The first move was adding depth center Henrik Borgstrom who was recently bought out by the Chicago Blackhawks.

Borgstrom signed a one year, two way contract where he’ll make the league minimum $750K while making $400K with the Hershey Bears. He also is a Finn!

If he ends up dressing for the Caps this season, he would become the first Finnish born player on the Caps since Semi Lepisto and Oskar Osala during the 2008-09 season.

In 52 games with the Blackhawks last season, Borgstrom scored seven points with four goals and three assists. He was bought out by the Blackhawks along with former Capital Brett Connolly.

The 2021-22 season was Borgstrom’s first in the NHL after playing in four games with the Florida Panthers duding the 2019-20 season. During the pandemic shortened season in 2020-21, Borgstrom played for HIFK of the Finnish Liiga recording 21 points with 11 goals and 10 assists in 30 games.

Borgstrom was originally drafted by Florida in the first round at 23rd overall in the 2016 NHL Draft.

This was an interesting add on. The Caps definitely needed a depth center as they’ll be without Nicklas Backstrom for a long time. Evgeny Kuznetsov will be back centering the top line. Nic Dowd will be on the fourth line. It looks like Connor McMichael will get his shot at the third line.

What does that mean for Lars Eller? Could he bump up to the second line or will the Caps trade him for that second line center?

I don’t think Borgstrom is a second line center. He could very well center the third line if McMichael passes the test and gets bumped up to the second line. But the Caps also made more moves at the forward position.