On Tuesday afternoon, the Vancouver Canucks introduced that they’d signed defenceman Derek Forbort to a one-year extension price $2 million common annual worth (AAV). He would have been an unrestricted free agent (UFA) on July 1 and was coming off a one-year deal price $1.5 million (AAV).
In his first season with the Canucks, Forbort had two objectives and 11 factors in 54 video games averaging 17:06 of ice time. He additionally had 65 hits and 77 blocked pictures and was a giant a part of the penalty kill that misplaced Ian Cole to free company final offseason.
“Bringing Derek again for an additional season is a crucial transfer for our group,” mentioned Allvin within the press launch following the signing. “His robust defensive play and strong work on the penalty kill actually helped solidify our again finish this previous yr. Derek has a robust voice within the room and a few spectacular management qualities, and we are going to look to him to assist our crew proceed to develop and enhance this coming season.”
Now a veteran of 550 video games break up between the Los Angeles Kings, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, Boston Bruins, and Canucks, Forbort might be getting into his eleventh season within the NHL and can seemingly break the 1,000-hit and 1,000-block mark subsequent season as he sits at 923 within the former and 936 within the latter. His physicality, shot-blocking, and management might be a welcome sight to a defence that doesn’t have numerous it, subsequent to perhaps one other new face, Marcus Pettersson.
Forbort might be becoming a member of a fairly formidable blue line in 2025-26 that may even be including high prospect Tom Willander and certain a full season of Elias Pettersson, who had a breakout rookie marketing campaign in 2024-25. Now that he’s re-signed, the defence is ready for subsequent season with seven defencemen beneath contract, led after all by captain Quinn Hughes.
