Derek Forbort is taking the long route back toward the NHL. The Calgary Wranglers, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Flames, have signed the 34-year-old defenseman to a professional tryout, giving the veteran a chance to play for the Flames this season after a year lost mostly to injury.
The deal is a familiar kind of audition for a player who spent the better part of a decade as a regular NHL blueliner.
An AHL tryout can run as long as 25 games, and a club may use two of them on the same player in a season.
Nothing is guaranteed beyond that window. Forbort will be looking to turn the trial into something more durable, whether that is a standard AHL contract or another look from an NHL team.
The path to this point was mostly spent on the sideline. Forbort appeared in only the first two games of the 2025-26 season with the Vancouver Canucks before lingering hip trouble shut him down.
He had tried to get through camp with a cortisone shot and a platelet-rich plasma injection, hoping to avoid surgery.
When that plan failed, he went ahead with the procedure, accepting a recovery that would cost him the rest of the year. By the time free agency opened, one of the more experienced left-shot defenders still looking for work was also one of the least recently seen.
The résumé underneath the injury is still substantial. Drafted 15th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in 2010 out of Duluth, Minnesota, Forbort has played 552 NHL games across parts of 11 seasons, with 19 goals and 87 assists for 106 points and 346 penalty minutes.
In his prime with Los Angeles, he logged more than 20 minutes a night and held a top-four role.
Later stops in Winnipeg, Boston, and Vancouver pushed him toward third-pair minutes, and his career average sits a little over 19 minutes a game. He is not a scorer. He has been a big, physical defender whose value has lived in the defensive zone.
Calgary is not entirely new ground. Forbort played seven regular-season games for the Flames in 2019-20 after a midseason trade from the Kings, then added 10 playoff appearances.
The Wranglers announced the tryout on October 1 and listed him among the defensemen on their opening roster, wearing No. 26. After nearly a full year away, he is unlikely to be asked to carry a heavy load right away.
A third-pair role, and a cautious approach on the second half of back-to-backs, would fit both his recent usage and the simple fact that he is still working his way back from surgery.
What the tryout actually becomes depends on how that body holds up.
If Forbort can skate, defend, and stay available, the Wranglers have added a player with far more NHL experience than a typical AHL depth signing. If the hip does not cooperate, the long way back may turn out to be a short stay.
