According to General Fanager, the Los Angeles Kings have signed restricted free agent Derek Forbort to a two-year, two-way deal that will see him earn $650K per season in the NHL. Forbort was coming off his entry-level contract after being selected fifteenth overall in the 2010 draft.
A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Forbort went to the University of North Dakota after being drafted before making his professional debut in 2013, getting into six games with the Manchester Monarchs. In the three seasons following, Forbort has been a mainstay on the AHL blueline (which this season moved to Ontario, California) and got his first taste of the NHL when he finally made his debut this past year.
After being called up but never dressed in 2014-15, Forbort was the last player from the first round of the 2010 draft to make his NHL debut, a full 1939 days later. In the 14 games that he played this season for Los Angeles, the 6’4″ defenseman scored just two points in barely over eleven minutes a night.
He’ll try now to prove that he deserves another shot in the NHL, but has to go through a deep, proven group on the Kings’ back end. Even so, the guaranteed $550K over the two seasons isn’t a bad check for an AHL player.