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Derek Forbort

Examining A Pivotal Offseason For The Boston Bruins

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Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub wrote a piece today going over his thoughts on the offseason that was for the Boston Bruins. Anderson writes that while the offseason losses were a challenge for the team, he believes the club can still contend for a division title, and at the very least make the playoffs in the Atlantic Division.

While Anderson offers up many reasons for optimism, he does believe that if the Bruins were to falter, they should look to move on from the eight unrestricted free agents that the Bruins will be dressing on opening night and try to acquire assets for them rather than throwing assets after band-aid solutions. Boston does have an extensive list of unrestricted free agents at the end of this year including Jake DeBrusk, James van Riemsdyk, Milan Lucic, A.J. Greer, Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Jakub Zboril. Moving on from these players would help facilitate a re-tool should the Bruins opt to go down that path.

There is a belief with Anderson and others that the Bruins could be buyers in the summer of 2024 when the cap goes up and the bonuses come off Boston’s cap. An added bonus to selling at the deadline would be that any assets acquired at the deadline could help the team make moves next summer when they have cap space to play with. Now, while it seems silly to be looking at trade deadline moves when the season hasn’t even started, it is an interesting idea for the Bruins for the reasons mentioned above.

One final note, and this could be a big one, is that Boston’s first-round pick this season was dealt in the Tyler Bertuzzi trade. The pick is top-10 protected and if Boston were to fall down the standings, they could grab a top-10 pick this year in a re-tooling year and give Detroit their 2025 pick when they presumably have re-stocked the NHL roster. The risk there of course is that they falter again in 2025 and hand the Red Wings a top-10 pick, but that seems unlikely given that the team will still have some solid pieces in place and possibly some reinforcements to join them.

Atlantic Injury Updates: Bruins, Bennett, Sanderson

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After a report yesterday signaling that Boston Bruins star center David Krejci would be shut down for the remainder of the regular season, head coach Jim Montgomery announces that he will be ready for Game 1 of the NHL playoffs. This is good news for the Bruins, as Krejci is one of their best playoff performers in franchise history.

Montgomery also made time for several other injury updates, noting that Vezina candidate Linus Ullmark would not make the trip with the team as they head to Montreal for their final game of the season. Nothing is imminent on that front, as Ullmark snagged the win against the Washington Capitals last night, but Montgomery notes that the team is trying to be precautionary with their goalie.

For their depth players, primarily about injured defenseman Derek Forbort and forward Nick Foligno, the Bruins head coach says they are both, “checking boxes”. It’s unclear whether either will be ready for the Bruins’ first-round playoff matchup. With the depth Boston added to their blue line at the trade deadline, it’s also unclear whether Forbort would play for the Bruins in the playoffs regardless. Foligno would be a much more lethal addition, rebounding from a disastrous 2021-22 season, scoring 10 goals and 16 assists for the Bruins this year.

For this year’s playoffs, the Bruins will have a home-ice advantage throughout the entirety. Although the Eastern Conference wild-card race has not been entirely settled yet, they will play the Florida Panthers, New York Islanders, or the Pittsburgh Penguins for their opening-round matchup.

Other injury updates from the Atlantic Division:

  • Jameson Olive, the Senior Digital Content Manager for the Panthers, relays on a message from head coach Paul Maurice, announcing that forward Sam Bennett will not play in Florida’s final regular season game. Although the Panthers clinched a spot in the playoffs last night, they don’t know if they will be playing the Bruins or the winner of the Metropolitan division. The team has played well in Bennett’s absence, as the forward has not played since their March 20th win against the Detroit Red Wings. Bennett has had a similar year to his last, scoring 16 goals and 24 assists for the Panthers this season.
  • Spending last summer rehabbing from an injury, Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson is looking to get a proper summer of training under his belt. In doing so, Bruce Garrioch of TSN is reporting that Sanderson has declined to play for Team USA in the upcoming World Championship. In 76 games for the Senators during his rookie season, the young defenseman has scored four goals and 27 assists. If they weren’t quite ready for it this season, the Senators are fully prepared to make a run to the playoffs next year. After the addition of Jakob Chychrun at this year’s trade deadline, they will have a lethal blue line if Sanderson can continue progressing this summer.

Bruins Activate Taylor Hall From LTIR, Place Two Players On LTIR

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The Bruins will be welcoming back a key forward tonight against New Jersey as the team announced that winger Taylor Hall has been activated from LTIR.  To create the cap space to do so, Boston transferred winger Nick Foligno and defenseman Derek Forbort on LTIR while assigning center Oskar Steen to AHL Providence.

Hall has been out for more than a month with a lower-body injury.  The injury occurred just days before the trade deadline; his LTIR placement created the cap space for them to go add Tyler Bertuzzi from Detroit to further deepen their roster.  Hall isn’t the Hart Trophy-winning player he once was but the 31-year-old has been a capable secondary scorer for the Bruins this season, picking up 16 goals and 20 assists in 58 games.

The placements of Foligno and Forbort on LTIR shouldn’t be any cause for concern.  The team remains hopeful that Foligno will be available at some point in the first round while Forbort had been ruled out for the rest of the season nearly three weeks ago and could be back at some point in the postseason.  Neither player has suffered a setback and these moves were strictly for cap purposes.  There is no cap in the playoffs so when Foligno and Forbort are able to return, they will be eligible to play.

As for Steen, he has been shuffled to and from the minors quite a bit recently; this is his third demotion in the last two weeks.  The 25-year-old has played in three games with the big club this season, picking up a goal.  Steen has spent most of the year with Providence, tallying 14 goals and 17 assists in 63 contests and is likely to be one of the first recall options should someone else get injured in the coming days.

Derek Forbort Out Rest Of Regular Season

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The Boston Bruins will be without Derek Forbort for the rest of the regular season, according to Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com. The defenseman suffered a lower-body injury recently and won’t play again before the playoffs, but, according to head coach Jim Montgomery, will not require surgery.

That would suggest Forbort could return at some point in the playoffs, the only thing the Bruins have to worry about at this point. They already have the Presidents’ Trophy effectively locked up, with a 13-point lead over the Carolina Hurricanes, and are simply waiting to see who they’ll play in the first round.

Forbort has been an effective piece for the Bruins this season, logging huge time on the penalty kill and providing solid physical play. He averages more than three minutes a night shorthanded, tied with Brandon Carlo for the team lead.

The 31-year-old defenseman’s absence would leave a significant hole, had it not been for the acquisition of Dmitry Orlov at the deadline, which extended the Bruins depth chart and prepared them for a scenario like this. The club has more than enough talent to work their way through the last month of the season without Forbort, though decisions will get a little harder once the playoffs start, if he is healthy enough to play.

For teams locked into a playoff spot, avoiding injury while staying sharp over the last dozen games is imperative. The playoffs are a grind even for the most talented rosters in the league, and the Eastern Conference is shaping up to be especially tough.

Injury Updates: Carlson, Acciari, Forbort

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Capitals defenseman John Carlson revealed to Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic (subscription link) that the upper-body injury that has kept him out close to three months was a small skull fracture above his right ear and a severed temporal artery.  Back in January, his ear had to be partially reattached, likely due to that severed artery.  The veteran has started skating and is believed to be targeting Thursday’s game against Chicago as a potential return date.  Carlson’s absence has played a big role in Washington’s decline this season and while his suiting up won’t change their fortunes now, it’ll still be important for him to get back and show that he has indeed fully recovered.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Maple Leafs forward Noel Acciari won’t play tonight against Ottawa, relays NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy (Twitter link). He suffered an injury on Friday against Carolina on a hit from Jesse Puljujarvi and did not return with head coach Sheldon Keefe indicating the 31-year-old wouldn’t be accompanying Toronto on the road.  Acciari has three goals in 13 games with Toronto since being acquired from St. Louis last month while chipping in with 43 hits in a little under 13 minutes per contest.
  • The Bruins are likely to be without blueliner Derek Forbort for both games this weekend. Head coach Jim Montgomery indicated after practice yesterday (video link) that the veteran went for more imaging on Friday with the team awaiting the results.  Connor Clifton is expected to suit up in Forbort’s spot today while Jakub Zboril appears to be targeted for that spot in the lineup on Sunday.  Forbort has a dozen points in 54 games so far this season while chipping in with 106 hits and 88 blocked shots.

Boston Bruins Activate Derek Forbort

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The Boston Bruins have officially activated Derek Forbort from long-term injured reserve, sending Anton Stralman down to the Providence Bruins at the same time. Stralman cleared waivers earlier today, meaning his entire $1MM cap hit can be buried in the minor leagues.

Many followers of the Bruins were confused when head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters including Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe that the team would not need any other moves to activate Forbort, since at first blush the CapFriendly page appeared to show a lack of cap space for the move. But that space was based on the $82,091,667 accruable cap space limit that the team set before the season when they first entered LTIR. With Forbort back, the team is now completely out of LTIR, and has a total cap hit of $82,454,167, just under the regular cap ceiling of $82.5MM.

It’s close, but the team doesn’t need to make another move and can continue with a 22-man roster.

Forbort, meanwhile, is coming back after a month on the shelf, last playing November 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The veteran defenseman had three points in his first ten games and was averaging more than 20 minutes a night, holding the fort while the team waited on some other pieces to return. Now that everyone is healthy, he’ll likely assume a lesser – but still important – role on the club, and try to help them continue their torrid start.

Stralman, meanwhile, is headed to the AHL for the first time in more than a decade. The last time he suited up in the minor leagues was during the 2008-09 season with the Toronto Marlies, before he had really established himself as a regular in the league. Nearly 900 games later and he’s headed back, though it will be interesting to see if another club goes after him as a trade target, now that he has cleared waivers.

Anton Stralman Clears Waivers

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Nov 29: Perhaps surprisingly, Stralman has indeed cleared waivers and can be assigned to the minor leagues to make room for Forbort.

Nov 28: After playing just 8:44 in his last appearance with the Boston Bruins, Anton Stralman finds himself on waivers today. The veteran defenseman is available for claim, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, which would potentially open up a roster spot for the soon-to-return Derek Forbort.

Stralman, 36, signed a one-year, $1MM contract with the Bruins in October, giving the team a veteran defenseman to lean on while they dealt with injuries. Now, after eight relatively underwhelming appearances, the team needs the cap space and the roster spot. Stralman failed to record a point in his games as a Bruin, though seven of the eight did result in wins. In two of those, he even logged more than 19 minutes, though the ice time has been more difficult to come by as the season progressed.

It will be interesting to see if a defense-needy team takes a shot on the veteran right-hander. Stralman has more than 900 games of NHL experience and was once a top-pairing two-way option, capable of supporting more offensive-minded players. In 2014-15, skating for much of the year next to a young Victor Hedman, he finished 13th in Norris Trophy voting.

That defenseman is long gone, but there’s at least reason to believe he could still help a team’s bottom pair. As recently as last season, he logged more than 21 minutes a night for the Arizona Coyotes, racking up 23 points despite brutal deployment numbers – receiving almost nothing but defensive zone starts to help protect some of the team’s younger options. For teams dealing with multiple injuries on the back end, he could add some stability.

Snapshots: O’Reilly, Subban, Forbort

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The St. Louis Blues have lost eight in a row and suddenly, a player that was once considered a core piece is starting to be discussed in trade speculation. Ryan O’Reilly, the team’s captain, and (tied for) highest-paid player is a focus of two different pieces from The Athletic today.

Blues’ beat reporter Jeremy Rutherford penned a column about the smaller changes that Doug Armstrong was forced to make to the roster (recalling Josh Leivo and Nikita Alexandrov), while Pierre LeBrun touched on several potential trade candidates including O’Reilly, teammate Vladimir Tarasenko, and Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvat. Both O’Reilly and Tarasenko are unrestricted free agents at the end of the season and if the Blues don’t turn things around quickly, could find themselves on the move by the March deadline.

  • It should come as no surprise that former NHL defenseman P.K. Subban has signed a three-year contract with ESPN to become a full-time studio analyst, given his boisterous, charismatic personality. The network had tried him out in the past during the playoffs and ESPN’s Mark Gross calls Subban’s perspective “unique” because of how recently he retired.
  • The Boston Bruins had to clear some extra cap space to activate Charlie McAvoy, and PuckPedia confirms that they have moved Derek Forbort to long-term injured reserve to do it. That doesn’t really solve the issue but does give them a bit more time to figure out how they will make everything fit. Mike Reilly, after clearing waivers today, was sent to the minor leagues to clear a bit more space.

Derek Forbort Out Week-To-Week

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The Boston Bruins have lost another valuable contributor to a week-to-week injury. Per a team announcement, defenseman Derek Forbort underwent successful surgery on his right middle finger, and the expected recovery time is four to six weeks.

Forbort, 30, had played in all ten of the Bruins’ games this season up until tonight. He’s been an important cog in the Bruins’ blueline, handling 18:48 time on ice per game and leading the team in short-handed ice time per game. Forbort has three points as well so far this season and has been one of new coach Jim Montgomery’s most trusted defenders.

The Bruins are currently missing Charlie McAvoy, David Krejci, Jeremy Swayman, and Craig Smith due to injury, but that hasn’t stopped them from getting off to an NHL-best 9-1 start.

Veteran defenseman Anton Stralman, who earned a job in Boston after arriving on a PTO, will likely take Forbort’s defense-first role. The injury could also provide some opportunity for the Bruins to get a longer look at Jakub Zboril or Mike Reilly, who are both currently healthy scratches.

While this injury is far from an ideal development for Boston, the team has overcome all injury troubles they’ve faced so far this season. While this injury may hurt their penalty kill in the short-term, the Bruins have played well enough so far this year to give confidence that they can survive in Forbort’s absence.

Brad Marchand, Derek Forbort Earn Fines

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The Boston Bruins are down two games in their first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes, and now a pair of their players are down a few more dollars. Derek Forbort and Brad Marchand have both been issued $5,000 fines for actions in last night’s game.

Forbort’s incident came early in the third period when he rather recklessly swung his stick toward Teuvo Teravainen, hitting him directly in the face. It was given a four-minute double-minor from the on-ice officials, half of the eight minutes that Forbort would receive on the night in just 16 minutes of ice time. A key penalty killer for the Bruins, he’ll have to keep his stick in check, as a fine will lead the Department of Player Safety to keep a closer eye on his actions moving forward, and result in increased punishments for any further transgressions.

Marchand meanwhile is already under the watchful eye of the DoPS every time he steps on the ice. His fine stems from a slash on Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov after the two exchanged words in the second period. Both Marchand and Kochetkov were given penalties for slashing on the play, though it is Marchand who also receives the fine–likely due in part to his long history with the league’s supplementary discipline process.

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