NHL Notebook: Derek Forbort - and his pup, Darla - are becoming unsung heroes for this Bruins roster

Derek Forbort is no stranger to pain.

The job description presented whenever the 6-foot-4 blueliner hops over the boards for a shift is far from glamorous, especially when compared to the other fleet-footed, offensive-minded skaters on Boston’s blue line.

When the 30-year-old skater’s game is thriving, his body is usually trending in the opposite direction — with Forbort often resembling a moth drawn to a flame when it comes to his propensity to glide into the line of fire on a draining PK shift.  

It’s a tough gig, but someone’s got to do it. And Forbort’s willingness to take on those draining D-zone minutes and eat up pucks on PK shifts — while sometimes overlooked — makes him an essential cog in the greater machine that is the Bruins’ defensive unit. 

“He’s invaluable. You can’t replace a guy like that,” Jeremy Swayman said of Forbort. “You need a Derek Forbort on your team. … What he does for this organization and this team — he puts his body on the line. That’s what we all want. It’s a next-man-up mentality and he does his job to the best of his ability every night.”

Welcoming the aches and welts that come with his profession is second nature to Forbort at this point — with a “nutjob” of a bantam coach, as Forbort describes him, often making him and his teammates withstand a volley of shots during practices while growing up in Duluth, Minnesota.

And now, even away from the rink, Forbort is being put to the test with daunting physical challenges — namely, carrying his 12-year-old basset hound, Darla, up a few flights of stairs to his North End apartment four times a day.

“They're working on replacement elevator right now,” Forbort said to BostonSportsJournal.com. “So I'm carrying Darla up and down four times a day. So that's not ideal — but a good shoulder workout.”

Given his stay-at-home mantra out on the ice, Forbort isn’t exactly the type of player that operates with a lot of panache during a shift, with the University of North Dakota product more than happy to serve more of an unassuming (but vital) role on Boston’s roster. 

Away from the game, Forbort is cut from the same cloth — quiet, self-effacing and always ready to deflect praise. He likely won’t be calling David Pastrnak’s tailor for wardrobe ideas, nor is he the type of guy that seeks the spotlight.

But now in his second season with Boston, Forbort has started to develop a cult following in his neighborhood locale. Or, rather, his canine companion is. 

“She's turning into a celebrity in the North End,” Forbort said. “It's actually getting kind of ridiculous. People will come up and like ask for pictures with Darla and they'll ask me to take the photo. I'm not really on social media too much, but I know the Bruins put her on social media a lot. So people will just come up to me and be like, 'Dude, is that Darla?' It's getting a little crazy."

Forbort, as expected, didn’t have a grandiose tale to spin when it came to his decision to adopt Darla back in 2019 during his time with the Los Angeles Kings. 

“I was on IR, rehabbing a back injury,” Forbort said. “Was kinda taking a little longer than expected and I was just like, screw it — let's change something up."

While puppies or younger dogs are often the picks of the litter for potential owners looking to adopt, Darla stood as the perfect match for Forbort — especially when factoring in his current living situation and the hectic schedule he often finds himself adhering to as a pro athlete. 

“I was looking and I was like, ‘I'll take the oldest and laziest dog that you guys got. …It's been great. Now I'm a little sad at how old she is."

"But I was just looking for a dog to hang with. Like I wasn't really looking for one that needed a ton of exercise. She just was perfect. She was also the first one that became available, so it worked out pretty good."

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Of course, even though Darla’s propensity to lounge around beyond her four daily walks fits right in with Forbort’s laid-back attitude, her recent surge in popularity has often had the B’s defenseman doing a double-take, especially in the early going of the 2022-23 campaign.

Even if Forbort (wisely) isn't a social-media frequenter, he is well aware of the Bruins’ frequent postings of his pup — and that enthusiasm has clearly spilled over both into the fanbase and in the locker room.

“Someone was saying that there’s a Darla No. 28 jersey in the stands. It's funny,” Forbort said. “She had a good summer of training. So I'm glad that she's getting the respect that she deserves."

Of course, Darla is not the only Forbort receiving some overdue praise in 2022-23. 

After an up-and-down first season in Boston in which Forbort started off on the B’s top pairing with Charlie McAvoy before eventually settling further down on the depth chart, Forbort has played a major role in how the B’s patchwork defense has managed to stay afloat through the first two weeks of the new season.

Forbort’s PK prowess and willingness to eat up those hard minutes already made him a dependable tool for Jim Montgomery, but the blueliner is making the most of his added minutes out of the gate — logging close to 21 minutes per game through six contests.

With Brandon Carlo now on the shelf due to injury, Forbort has elevated himself as Boston’s top option in shorthanded situations, ranking fourth among all NHLers in shorthanded TOI per game at 4:11. 

Given those heavy minutes spent in Boston’s own zone, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise for some of the underlying metrics surrounding Forbort’s game to not exactly paint a flattering picture.

And yet, despite having just 41 percent of his faceoffs during 5v5 play start in the offensive zone, the Bruins are both outscoring teams, 5-3, during Forbort’s 93:48 of 5v5 ice time this season — and holding a 23-10 edge in high-danger scoring chances over that same stretch. 

(The Bruins have been pretty strong out of the gate this season when it comes to limiting quality scoring chances, but Forbort’s presence has often led to multiple shifts where scoring opportunities wither away down low for opponents.)

“I think he's probably the least talked about guy here and the way he can kind of lead just by the way he plays,” Nick Foligno said of Forbort. “He's, first of all, just an unbelievable guy in the room. Everyone loves him, but the way he's come in, in great shape and just taken on the role. I think he's probably looked at the injuries on the back end and wanted to be a guy, quietly, you know, never said like, ' I'm gonna do this' - just quietly is going to go about and lead that way and I think we all appreciate what he's done. 

“He's led in the minutes and the heavy minutes and he plays a hard game. He blocked shots, he commits himself to the team defensively. He scored the other night, which was awesome. So yeah, I've been really impressed with him — not seeing him a ton and finally getting to play with him last year and he's a hell of a defenseman. He's been a big, big part of our team.”

Now in their second go-around with Boston, both Forbort and Darla seem far more settled into their surroundings. 

Boston may not offer the same warm temps as Southern California, but there are plenty of other perks that are keeping Darla happy these days.

“There’s food on the ground everywhere,” Forbort said. “So she’s picking up a piece of pizza on every block during her walk. Gotta be cognizant of that.”

It’s been quite the journey for both Derek and Darla, from those days on the sandy beaches of L.A. to the winding, cobblestone streets of the North End. As expected, more challenges (and bruises) lie on the horizon for Forbort as he navigates through the twists and turns that present themselves over an 82-game season.

But for Forbort, having a four-legged friend around stands as an effective remedy to whatever hurdles await. 

Oh, it's great,” Forbort said of Darla. “I mean, you get home and she doesn't really care how you're playing. She's always going to be happy you're there, no matter what. It's just great.”

OTHER NOTES

Cap relief on the horizon?

For all of the good tidings that have come from the Bruins’ strong start to the 2022-23 season, allow me to once again dump a bucket of cold water on you by looking ahead to the crossroads that await this club next summer.

Beyond the obvious questions that could change the trajectory of this franchise when it comes to David Pastrnak’s contract and both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci’s futures, there lies the issue of Boston’s cap situation in the coming years — and whether or not Don Sweeney and Co. have the fiscal flexibility to retool on the fly in 2023-24.

Yes, the Bruins might have 10 contracts coming off the books this upcoming offseason, but when you factor in Pastrnak’s potential $10.5-11.5 million annual payout with his new deal and the $4.5 million in bonus overages from Bergeron/Krejci that will almost certainly carry over into the next season, the B’s may not have as much cap space as one might hope next year, at least if the salary-cap ceiling remains around the current threshold of $82.5 million. 

 However, there might be some hope on the horizon when it comes to the NHL’s cap situation getting a little more wiggle room in the coming years.

Speaking after a Board of Governors meeting in New York earlier this week, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged that there is a chance the league’s salary cap could rise by more than $4 million if projected revenues hit a certain threshold and pandemic-related escrow is fully paid off by players this season. 

“We believe that there’s a good probability that the escrow will be paid off this season,” Bettman told media in NYC. “It may not (happen), but it’s going to be close, we think, which means the flat cap will be replaced by an increase — if not this season then next season.”

Bettman’s comments were a bit of a surprise, as the general consensus has been that the escrow would not fully be paid off until the following season, with the salary-cap spike set for 2024. However, a strong revenue stream for the league would be welcomed, especially for cap-strapped teams or clubs like the Bruins — who should be primed to spend a ton next summer.

The Bruins will be hoping that Bettman’s optimism is realized. If that escrow is not fully paid off this season, the salary cap is only expected to go by another $1 million (moving to $83.5 million) for the 2023-24 season. 

Foligno reflects on Chara’s influence

Nick Foligno might have never shared the ice with Zdeno Chara as an NHL teammate, but the forward does have plenty of memories centered around the now-retired blueliner — be it his early days of Senators training camps when Chara was still in Ottawa, or the numerous battles he had with the Bruins captain during his time with Columbus. 

“I had to put an extra pad on just because of him,” Foligno said of his net-front scaps with Chara over the years. “He liked his crosschecks. Yeah, it was fun. I think we both respected the way we played the game — how hard he would play, how hard I would go at him and it made some nights kind of tough, especially with how dominant he was. But you get up for playing against players like that. And I always enjoyed the challenge and I have so much respect for him.”

With Chara back in Boston on Saturday for a pregame ceremony, Foligno spoke positively of Chara’s impact, especially when it comes to cultivating a locker-room culture that many players outside of the organization were fully cognizant of. 

“He's a guy that I just have so much respect for,” Foligno said of Chara. "Because he came here and changed the culture completely. And the way he played, for how big he was and the way he dominated, and the way he worked at his craft, I think that was something I always admired about him as a professional and playing against him. Just so much respect for the leader that he is and the family man that he is. So you appreciate getting to play against legends like that in the game. And I think knowing what he meant to this organization and now being here, it was an honor to be a part of that tonight and I hope he gets a lot more recognition for what he's done for this city and this team. And I think all the guys here feel that."

Return of the Pooh Bear

As divisive as the visage of the Pooh Bear is, I have to say that I’m pretty impressed with the B’s new Reverse Retro jerseys for the 2022-23 season.

No, they’re far from the best alternates that the Bruins have rolled out (I humbly request once again that the NHL brings back those 2021 Reverse Retros from the Lake Tahoe game) but the white sweater does suit the Pooh Bear logo a bit more. And let's face it — ‘90s nostalgia is certainly in these days.

At the very least, the B’s new jersey isn’t boring, and considering that the Bruins have another sweater set to roll out in the next couple of months for the 2023 Winter Classic, now was the time for the Bruins to take a risk and go for it with this new garb.

And if you hate it? Don’t fret. With the B’s set to wear the Pooh Bear sweaters for just six games, I have to imagine those Winter Classic sweaters will serve as the team’s alternates for the second half of the year.