Florida Panthers: Is Henrik Borgstrom Being Mismanaged?

While his two-point night against Carolina was Henrik Borgström at his best, it’s just smoke and mirrors of what his true potential is.

The 21-year-old forward had shown flashes of the dominant center that dominated the NCAA for the University of Denver.

Borgström, in his first consistent stint with the Florida Panthers, had his first multi-goal game last Saturday night, scoring his sixth and seventh goal of the season in a 4-3 OT loss to the Hurricanes.

He was also involved in the second goal, tallying an assist on Mark Pysyk’s first goal of the season.

Borgström has been thrown all across the ice from Bob Boughner as the team tries to find the right fit for him.

He’s been on the second line as a right-winger with Jared McCann (while he was still in Florida) and Evgeni Dadonov and centered and played on the left of the third line with Mike Hoffman, Denis Malgin, and Jayce Hawryluk.

He’s been thrown on special teams as well as part of the second power-play unit, which gets significantly less time than the first.

Last Saturday, Borgström was stuck centering the fourth line, flanked by Jamie McGinn on the left and Dryden Hunt on the right.

Don’t get it twisted, but for a playmaker like Borgström to be placed on the fourth line with a grinder and a forward struggling to make paces at the NHL level, isn’t going to help his development.

Even still, Borgström played his best game of the season last night, his first three-point night and the first star of the game. Despite that, Borgström only played 8:16 in a game that went 62:45 long. How does that make sense?

The opinion of Borgström inside the Panthers organization appears to be a frustrating one. The organization (Dale Tallon & Bob Boughner) know that he’s too good for the AHL, but can’t seem to crack the top six.

Everyone seems to be irritated; the fans and the player are pushing for more time on the ice, while the organization feels that Borgström isn’t at the level to break up the top six right now.

This is a frustrating sight to see, with Borgström sat below McGinn, Troy Brouwer, and Riley Sheahan on the fourth line.

While I can’t make any assumptions at what Boughner’s strategy is, it looks like he’s trying to keep a young line together with Hawryluk and Dryden Hunt.

This is attempting to appeal to Borgström, with him being able to play faster with two wingers more capable of keeping up with him, but this still isn’t playing more than 10:00 in his games.

Right now, it’s a tough task for any center to get in above the top two Panthers’ centers right now, despite Vincent Trocheck’s dip in form after returning from injury.

Despite that, Borgström has been effective when working with top-six talent, including his work with Mike Hoffman in Florida’s 5-3 loss to Montreal back in December.

One issue with the Panthers’ management of Borgström is his lack of play in overtime. The Panthers have gone to overtime in 5 of their last 6 games, a tiring stretch for players like Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, who usually heavily feature in the overtime frame.

Borgström’s skillset seems to mirror what teams may want in the overtime: quickness, skill, and an individual who can create his own space and shot.