Derek Forbort signs pro tryout deal with AHL’s Calgary Wranglers

Veteran defenseman Derek Forbort has agreed to a professional tryout deal with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers, the club announced Thursday afternoon.

Forbort, 34, appeared in the first two games of the 2025-26 regular season with the Vancouver Canucks before missing the rest of the year due to a persistent hip issue. The 6’4″ left-shot defender became an unrestricted free agent when his one-year deal with the Canucks expired on July 1.

The Wranglers are the top minor-league affiliate of the Calgary Flames, who needed some extra defensive depth for their AHL club after the Detroit Red Wings claimed Andreas Englund off waivers from them on Sept. 26.

Forbort shared more information about his rehabilitation process in his end-of-season media availability with the Canucks in April.

“Yeah, kind of started before training camp,” Forbort said. “Started having some hip issues. Was able to get through training camp with a Cortisone injection that kind of wore off. Ended up doing like a [platelet-rich plasma] injection in Toronto. Had a pretty bad reaction to that. And then, kind of once that calmed down, we were just trying to rehab. Tried a bunch of things, and then it just kind of got to the point where I had to get the labral tear in my hip fixed, and so I had surgery for that, and, yeah, just been rehabbing now.”

Forbort previously played in the Flames organization during the 2019-20 season, when GM Brad Treliving acquired him from the Los Angeles Kings as a rental at the trade deadline. The Duluth, Minn. product appeared in seven games with the club before the regular season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic; he subsequently skated in 10 playoff games with the Flames in the 2020 bubble, recording a goal and an assist.

The Kings originally selected Forbort in the first round (No. 15 overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft. After three successful seasons at the University of North Dakota, Forbort turned pro in the Kings organization in 2013 and subsequently won the Calder Cup with the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs in 2015 before making his NHL debut the following season.

Forbort spent parts of five seasons with the Kings to begin his NHL career before being traded to the Flames. Following his brief first stint in Calgary, Forbort joined the Winnipeg Jets for one season before moving to the Boston Bruins for the subsequent three; he then signed with the Canucks as a free agent in 2024.

In 552 career NHL games over parts of 11 seasons with the Kings, Flames, Jets, Bruins, and Canucks, Forbort has collected 19 goals and 106 points. He’s added three goals and five points in 35 playoff contests.