{"id":469068,"date":"2025-06-03T17:03:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T21:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=469068"},"modified":"2025-06-03T17:03:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T21:03:41","slug":"vancouver-canucks-re-sign-reliable-defender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/03\/vancouver-canucks-re-sign-reliable-defender\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Reliable Defender"},"content":{"rendered":"

A key part of the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> defensive core<\/a> signs a contract extension as<\/span>\u00a0defender <\/span>Derek Forbort<\/span><\/a> inks a one-year<\/span> contract, worth $2 million. An NHL veteran of a decade, Forbort has brought experience to a Canucks lineup that is still relatively young. The Canucks defender\u2019s re-signing is sure to bring stability to a defensive core that may be filled with <\/span>youth<\/span><\/a> come the 2025\u201326 season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forbort Is a Seasoned NHL Veteran<\/span><\/h3>\n

Forbort was drafted 15th overall back in 2010, starting his NHL journey with the <\/span>Los Angeles Kings<\/span><\/a>. The now-Canucks defender signed his entry-level contract with the Kings in 2013, ultimately spending five NHL seasons with them before being traded to the <\/span>Calgary Flames<\/span><\/a> in 2020. Forbort scored six goals and 47 assists in 268 games played with Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forbort\u2019s time in Calgary was short-lived. Moreover, he only spent seven games with the Flames before the COVID-19 Pandemic shut the NHL down. During the 2020 free agency period, the defender was signed to a one-year, $1M deal by the <\/span>Winnipeg Jets<\/span><\/a>. He spent one season with the Jets, but made himself known to Canucks fans after he <\/span>went after<\/span><\/a> then-rookie <\/span>Nils H\u00f6glander<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After his brief stint in Winnipeg, the Canucks defender signed a three-year deal with the <\/span>Boston Bruins<\/span><\/a>. He played a total of 165 games with the Bruins, tallying nine goals and 21 assists. His time with the Bruins was hampered with injuries. Because of this, he was unable to play in a full season for Boston. He skated in 76 games in 2021\u201322, 54 in 2022\u201323, and 35 in 2023\u201324.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Canucks Derek Forbort Signs the Defender<\/span><\/h3>\n

Forbort first made his way to the Canucks during the 2024 free agency period. Vancouver needed a replacement for the departing <\/span>Ian Cole<\/span><\/a>. With Forbort available, the Canucks decided to test their luck, signing the defender to a one-year, $1.5M show-me deal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though he only played in 54 games this season, Forbort was solid when he was present. The start of the season was difficult for him, as he missed time due to both injuries and personal matters. As he regained a position in the lineup, his play began to steady itself. By the time February and March rolled around, the Canucks were comfortable enough with Forbort and defenceman <\/span>Elias Pettersson<\/span><\/a> in their D-core that they felt they could <\/span>move on<\/span><\/a> from <\/span>Carson Soucy<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forbort\u2019s defensive consistency has made him a good piece for the Canucks to keep around. As a league veteran, he\u2019ll slot in as a third-pairing defender who can help new players like Pettersson and <\/span>Victor Mancini<\/span><\/a> adjust to the NHL.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A key part of the Vancouver Canucks defensive core signs a contract extension as\u00a0defender Derek Forbort inks a one-year contract, worth $2 million. An NHL veteran of a decade, Forbort has brought experience to a Canucks lineup that is still relatively young. The Canucks defender\u2019s re-signing is sure to bring stability to a defensive core […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5509,"featured_media":469622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,4547,34,4548],"tags":[2630,662,5820],"class_list":["post-469068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canucks","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-derek-forbort","tag-nhl-free-agency","tag-vancouver-canucks-news"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469068"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469729,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469068\/revisions\/469729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}