Derek Forbort isn’t your typical top-pairing defenseman. He also isn’t your typical 26-year-old with 102 NHL games and three goals. It’s hard to gauge the defenseman’s value for a lot of reasons, including the amount of time he’s spent with Norris Trophy winner Drew Doughty and the generally calm style he plays when he’s at his best, but it appears that Forbort and the Los Angeles Kings have agreed on what he should be worth for at least a couple years.
Derek Forbort signed a two-year contract extension with the LA Kings with an AAV of $2.525 million.https://t.co/4eda1WzBEF
— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 19, 2017
From the press release:
Forbort was selected as the Mark Bavis Memorial Award winner (voted on by the media) as the best newcomer on the team. He also finished eighth in the NHL among rookie skaters in TOI/GM (20:06), and ranked sixth among rookie defensemen in assists, tied for sixth in plus/minus, and tied for eighth in points.
A first-round (15th overall) selection of the Kings in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Forbort has appeared in 102 regular-season games posting 22 points (3-19=22), a plus-12 rating and 73 penalty minutes.
I’ll let you answer the question of whether this bridge contract is a steal, an overpayment, or somewhere in between.
What do you think about Derek Forbort’s new two-year contract?
| It’s a bargain | 35 |
| It’s about right | 140 |
| It’s an overpayment | 35 |
| Ask me in a few months | 23 |
His rookie season offered plenty of reason for optimism despite occasional possession struggles and a nearly immediate plunge into heavy responsibility, as we discussed in our season review…
I’m inclined to praise Forbort for not letting the team down, and I’m inclined to breathe a sigh of relief that his elevation to a high-minute role didn’t contribute to the Kings missing the playoffs. LA treated this offseason as if they’re expecting Forbort to improve and grow more comfortable in his role, and some improvement will be necessary from Forbort in the possession game to ensure that he’s again a bright spot on the Kings’ blueline
… and I think another year will shed additional light on Forbort. For now, LA is prepared to pay their top four $17.5 million in 2018-19, and though that will increase if Doughty gets an extension, it’s not a bad rate in today’s NHL.