On Tuesday afternoon, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they had signed defenceman Derek Forbort to a one-year extension worth $2 million average annual value (AAV). He would have been an unrestricted free agent (UFA) on July 1 and was coming off a one-year deal worth $1.5 million (AAV).
In his first season with the Canucks, Forbort had two goals and 11 points in 54 games averaging 17:06 of ice time. He also had 65 hits and 77 blocked shots and was a big part of the penalty kill that lost Ian Cole to free agency last offseason.
“Bringing Derek back for another season is an important move for our group,” said Allvin in the press release following the signing. “His strong defensive play and solid work on the penalty kill really helped solidify our back end this past year. Derek has a strong voice in the room and some impressive leadership qualities, and we will look to him to help our team continue to grow and improve this coming season.”
Now a veteran of 550 games split between the Los Angeles Kings, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, Boston Bruins, and Canucks, Forbort will be entering his 11th season in the NHL and will likely break the 1,000-hit and 1,000-block mark next season as he sits at 923 in the former and 936 in the latter. His physicality, shot-blocking, and leadership will be a welcome sight to a defence that doesn’t have a lot of it, next to maybe another new face, Marcus Pettersson.
Forbort will be joining a pretty formidable blue line in 2025-26 that will also be adding top prospect Tom Willander and likely a full season of Elias Pettersson, who had a breakout rookie campaign in 2024-25. Now that he’s re-signed, the defence is set for next season with seven defencemen under contract, led of course by captain Quinn Hughes.
