Bruins reportedly sign Derek Forbort to a 3-year contract

The Bruins jumped into the flurry of free-agent moves on Wednesday afternoon by adding to their D corps — with multiple reports stating that Boston has signed blueliner Derek Forbort to a three-year contract with an average annual cap hit of $3 million.

The stay-at-home defenseman was a top-four fixture on an admittedly thin Winnipeg blue line last season — averaging 20:45 of ice time per game. Forbort scored two goals and 12 total points over 56 games with the Jets, while ranking fifth among all NHL defensemen with 115 blocks. 

Here’s what we had on Forbort during our breakdown from earlier today:

With top left-shot D like Jamie Oleksiak and and Alec Martinez either already off the board or close to signing elsewhere the market for legit, top-four blueliners is drying up before the Bruins and other teams can even begin bidding.

And with the Bruins (wisely) unwilling to hand a guy like Ryan Suter anything beyond a short-term deal, the B’s might have to dive a bit further down in the free-agent pool in order to beef up their blue line. 

One name that hasn’t drawn plenty of headlines but could fit in Boston’s plans is veteran Derek Forbort, who has established himself as an unheralded, minutes-eating skater out in Winnipeg.

In a post predicting where some of the top free agents will land in the coming days, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tabbed the Bruins as the likely fit for the 29-year-old Forbort — who would add some heft on Boston’s D corps (6-foot-4, 219 pounds). 

Even though Forbort doesn’t offer much in terms of offensive capabilities, there’s value to be had for any club looking to add a potential shutdown option on their blue line — with Winnipeg regularly deploying Forbort as an equalizer against some daunting matchups. 

Obviously, it’s a whole lot easier to quantify a player’s value when they’re much more active in the O-zone, but looking at WAR percentiles put forth by individuals such as @JFreshHockey does offer some additional context to players like Forbort who aren’t quite as flashy.

As you can see from Forbort’s player card, he’s regularly been Winnipeg’s best option as far as stymying opposing matchups go — ranking in the 96th percentile of all NHL defensemen in terms of quality of competition. 

Given his solid defensive metrics (78th percentile in even-strength defense), ability to eat up minutes and PK capabilities, Forbort would be a solid option for the B’s as this blue-line market continues to thin out. However, even if Forbort is due a pay raise after accounting for just a $1 million cap hit last year, the B’s should be cautious about not getting swept up in a UFA market that could see a whole lot of defensemen get overpaid. 

If Forbort is your potential Jeremy Lauzon replacement on a third pairing role, then it makes plenty of sense. But to slot him up any higher might be a bit of a reach — at least on a team that should have Cup aspirations like the Bruins. 

While Forbort’s price point might surprise some B’s fans, the fine folks at Evolving Hockey projected Forbort to secure a contract with a $4 million cap hit this summer. Perhaps that’s a byproduct of a hyper-active market for defensemen this offseason, but Forbort was certainly due for a solid bump in pay after the season he had with the Jets. 

All things considered, Forbort is a solid addition as a likely replacement for Jeremy Lauzon on the third pairing — but perhaps the most pressing question to ask is whether or not the Bruins have done enough on the left side to significantly bolster a defense that was decimated by the Isles back in June.