The Boston Bruins have signed Derek Forbort to a three-year contract, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The deal is expected to carry an average annual value of $3MM. The veteran defenseman completes a new-look left side of the blue line that plagued the team last season.
The Boston Bruins were disappointed to lose Jeremy Lauzon in the Expansion Draft, but have added the player most similar in ability, but with more size and experience, albeit five years older. The 29-year-old Forbort addresses the Bruins need for physicality and penalty kill ability, one that was introduced before this past season with the departure of Zdeno Chara and now further emphasized by the loss of Lauzon. The 6’4″, 220-lb. defender plays a heavy, shutdown game. Forbort is also an elite shot-blocker and capable of moving the puck and contributing modest offense.
While Forbort may seem like a typical bottom pair, stay-at-home defenseman, that hasn’t generally been the case. Forbort has played over 20 minutes per game in four of his five NHL seasons and could be looked upon for an even greater role in Boston. With Matt Grzelcyk best-suited back on the second pair with Brandon Carlo and re-signed deadline addition Mike Reilly never playing on the top pair down the stretch or in the postseason, it would seem that Charlie McAvoy still needs a running mate. Forbort could wind up filling that role, providing the defensive security that could allow McAvoy to become more active offensively. Look for Forbort and Carlo to also form a dominant duo on the team’s top penalty kill unit.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING SWEENEY
@Poundsy24 – Man, that makes two of us (so far!) The Demon Barber strikes again!
so what is your solution to the LH defenseman need? Interested in knowing how you would fix the problem in todays market.
Suter, $3.65/year… comes with additional leadership and experience too
have to disagree….giving an almost 40 year old guy a 4 year contract is not smart business. If he would have accepted 2 years maybe, but from what I have read he wasn’t interested in coming to the east coast anyway.
@azcm2511 – It’s more about the rash of overpays (all over the league), made worse in a flat cap. The GMs, as a whole, will keep saying “You have to pay to get talent.” True, but nobody is holding a gun to their heads and forcing them to overpay. Many are acting like the cap will go up 25% per year, and cover these moves.
I’m not an agent so that very well could have been the case that he didn’t want to go East but I also think a higher AAV would have gotten him to reduce the years. $10mil total over 2 years with a chance to win the cup each year? Could’ve been enticing. Then his contract is up just in time to resign Chuck and Bergy, but we’ll see how Bergy is playing by that point.
I just think there was and still is a better solution here. I’m a bit impatient but maybe there’s more to come from this.
I agree, but they are also forced to play in the market that is in place simply because that is all there is. In the Bruins case, they have an old and “last rodeo” type squad, do they stay out of the FA market for LH defenseman and count on the likes of Zboril and Vaak? If they weren’t contenders and had an up-and-coming lineup I might agree with that course, but they aren’t so they need to go all in for one last run at it before Bergy and Krej (if he comes back) are all done. Market value for LH D-man is inflated for sure but I think they two guys they signed will actually help stabilize the defense. Good compliments to what is already in place. Stay at home big body in Forbort to team up with McAvoy, allowing Gryz to match up with Carlo…another stay at home and puck carrier match up. Third pair of Reilly and Cliffy is pretty good for a third pairing.
valid point, just don’t think he was ever interested in coming to Boston….could be wrong, but we probably will never know. Good discussion, thanks for keeping it civil….doesn’t always happen that way nowadays.
Seems like about a million overpay, but it’s not as if they can’t afford it, and we know how badly injuries have savaged Bruins’ defense depth the last few years. I’d just as soon not see a scenario again where the likes of Zboril, Ahcan or Vaakanainen are rolled out as top-four defensemen.
I also don’t want to see a situation where all the money saved from team-friendly deals from Marchand, Pasta, Bergy, Chuck are all thrown out the window by overpaying bottom pair defensemen that you could get for half the price… not to mention flat-cap and that these two signings are going past the time they need to re-up Chuck and Pasta. Just frustrating they could’ve moved some prospects and picks to get OEL and instead they’re overpaying their backend Dmen just because they can.
I just don’t see a world where Bergy, Pasta, Marchand look at deals like this and are like, “Well dang, if I had known that’s what they were gonna do with the money I wouldn’t have taken the team-friendly deal”.
Bad deal. Should’ve just traded for Dillon.
the Caps probably wouldn’t have traded Dillon to a conference rival and even if they did, the Bruins would have probably had to pay a premium for him.
Insult to injury.. Dennis Savard signs for $3.5/year… I’d MUCH rather pay the extra $.5mil and get him than this
Denis Savard is back? What is he like 60?
You wouldn’t believe me if I told I was only 26 years old… sheesh
The point stands though… terrible. Hopefully the Rask and Krejci deals free up more $$$ to make a run at a big fish.
Savard is a right shot defender…the need is Boston is for a left shot, top four defender. How does Savard fill this need?
@goalieguy41 – Yeah, but he can still skate like the wind! Not sure if the two-way game is there, though…
:)
Fair point. But the solution here is to overpay for Reilly and Forbort? I fail to see how either of signings solves the “top-4” LHD part. They’re both better off on the 3rd pair and maybe 2nd pair if there’s an injury.
Grz-Chuck
Forbort-Carlo
Reilly-Clifton
Zboril and Vaakaneinen as extras? No sir. At least a Savard signing pushes Clifton to the bench where he’s been great as the 7th Dman already and only making $1mil. I’d argue there’s still a need for a top 4 LHD and by acquiring one you now push a $3mil/year guy to the bench… not ideal. I mean Yandle’s contract vs Reilly is comical. I’d much rather Yandle… a guy who plays every night, will give you PP1 or PP2 minutes and can be on the 3rd pair for 5v5 on a 1 yr/$1mil deal? Pair him up with Savard on the 3rd line? Still have cap to get a guy like OEL? Man that would’ve been a lineup:
OEL-Chuck
Grz-Carlo
Yandle-Savard
Clifton, Vaak, or any other 7th UFA signing you want to add as backup on a cheap deal. Good news is that the Bs should still have around 4.5mil to play with (7.2 once they stash Moore on LTIR) assuming Rask and Krejci come back at around $12mil total… hopefully they don’t pay $4mil for a 4th line center
Not sure why everyone hates this, guy averaged almost 21 minutes a night last year and played good stay at home defense for Pionk who had a pretty good year. People are acting like he’s the second coming of John Moore.
exactly. he is a solid top four guy who has size and toughness, left shot…good compliment to McAvoy on the first pairing and that moves Gryz to the second pairing with Carlo, Reilly and Cliffy on the third pairing. Pretty strong defensive group in my eyes.
Was a healthy scratch at the end of his Kings career, got dealt for a conditional 4th-round pick, then signed with Winnipeg on a one-year $1 million deal. Suddenly he’s good enough for $3 million per year for three years? I guess we will find out, but it’s the polar opposite of a sexy move.
He got caved in lol. He probably is the second coming of John Moore.
@Fight if the sexy move was a 37 year old Suter for 4 years I’ll take the unsexy move. I just figure with Miller and Lauzon gone plus Carlo’s uncertain health getting a solid defense first defenseman will really benefit guys like Zboril and Urho.
I agree. But I think this along with the Reilly signing makes it look worse. If this is the solution, there’s still a very clear need for a top pairing guy on the backend. There’s a lot of versatility there with the current group of guys, you can move them up and down the lineup, but there’s not a lot of consistency. That’s tough when you’re already relying very heavily on your top 2 lines to provide you with points