The Tape series is back, but not how it is usually received. Typically, we would focus on a player’s first few games as a Vancouver Canucks, how a player has elevated his play, or a new successful tactical strategy that worked in game. However, this time, we’ll be examining the play of the top five free agents the Canucks signed this offseason (Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Vincent Desharnais, Kiefer Sherwood and Derek Forbort) and give you a visual of what to expect out of these players for next season.

Today, we kick it off with 6’4″ 208-pound defenceman Derek Forbort.

Forbort, 32, signed a one-year $1.5 million contract with Vancouver on July 1st. Due to multiple injuries and some healthy scratches, Forbort only played 35 regular season and three playoff games last season. The former Boston Bruin defenceman failed to score but tallied four assists and finished with a plus-eight rating. But the big brute of a defenceman is certainly known for his work in his own end of the ice. Forbort finished second on the Bruins in average penalty kill time on ice per game (3:00), 46th in the league for hits/60 (5.68) and 36th in blocked shots/60 (6.26).

Given the time of year and minimal games played for Forbort during the regular season, the tape is limited. But we’ve got clips from two of his final three regular-season games against the Calgary Flames and Canucks. Let’s get started!

In this clip, we see the physicality Forbort brings. He chases a dump-in and makes the smart play to ring it around the boards, all the while knowing there’s a forechecker coming to hit him. However, Forbort doesn’t shy to retaliate. Once the Flames regain possession and try to reenter the zone, Forbort steps up on the opposition and forces him to dump it back in. His aggressiveness to step up leads to a seamless breakout for the Bruins, led by Forbort.

Watching tape on Forbort, he’s really not shy to pinch up in the offensive zone. Here, he takes the puck down the wall, behind the net while gaining speed and finds the open point man. With Brandon Carlo backpedalling to create an umbrella formation, he also pulls the right-side defenders towards him. And instead of assuming his position along the point, Forbort recognizes this, stays along the wall, and is in a threatening one-timer position.

Here’s a great clip showing two of the attributes that General Manager Patrik Allvin sought out when signing Forbort: Penalty killing and physicality. As Elias Pettersson carries the puck through the middle of the ice and passes it to Brock Boeser for a clean zone entrance, Forbort gives him no room to maneuver. He rams Boeser into the boards, which draws the puck loose. Forbort banks it past Boeser, off the boards, right on the tape of Charlie Coyle, leading to a shorthanded 2-on-1 with Brad Marchand.

Luckily for Canucks fans, it didn’t result in a goal but expect high-level pressure penalty killing from Forbort, this time in a blue and green uniform.

Forbort does a great job of reading the play as he steps in front of Nils Höglander when Noah Juulsen dumped the puck in from the blue line – can we just pretend he retained the puck? Cause, like, it was a great heads-up play, even if his hands didn’t catch up.

A few seconds later, watch what Forbort does when Nikita Zadorov gets possession of the puck. He keeps his eyes on his check (Höglander) and notices he’s on the other side of the net. Realizing he doesn’t need to pressure his check, Forbort looks at the puck carrier, looks at Swayman, stops himself and stays out of his goaltender’s line of vision.

After the puck went around the corner, Forbort uses his big frame to completely shut out Höglander from sniffing the front of the net. Once Pettersson dekes out Morgan Geekie, Forbort knows when to abandon Höglander and pressure Pettersson.

It was certainly encouraging to see the three plays stand out in one clip. All three involved Forbort using his head to make the correct decision on a play.

After a failed clearing attempt by the winger, Brandon Carlo is left out of position. Ilya Mikheyev picks up the puck behind the net with Höglander open as a passing option in the high slot. It would be pretty easy to see your defence partner out of position and focus on the puck carrier, but Forbort is cognitive of where Högladner is and cuts off the pass. This forces Mikheyev to take the puck around the net, where Forbort meets him and minimizes any sort of offensive threat after his team’s turnover.

This is just a small clip here, but I wanted to highlight this level of defensive effort from Forbort. This is game 59 for the Bruins and game 34 of Forbort’s season, and he’s diving out to block a shot off the stick of the future Norris-trophy winner when your goaltender has a clear look at the shooter. If that’s the level of shot blocking Vancouver’s going to see come playoff time, Forbort should be a highly valued asset to the Canucks penalty kill.

Here, we see another instinctual defensive play from Forbort. He sees his man (Sam Lafferty) jump into the slot, facing Ian Cole with his stick and getting ready for a tip-pass. However, Forbort jumps up and lifts his stick as soon as Cole does his slap-pass, and the puck drives right through below the goal line.

After this, it became clear how Forbort plays defence around the front of the net. He uses his big frame to box his opponents out of the way, leaving a clear view for Swayman to see exactly where this shot was coming from. Now, I’m not sure whether Bruce Cassidy cemented in Forbort as a Bruins philosophy or whether that’s a Forbort special. Either way, it’s great awareness to use his big body to get in the way of his opponents rather than his goaltender, and it bodes well for another Vezina-trophy nomination (if he can stay healthy)

It’s certainly not a highlight to watch Forbort on the ice for a goal against, but his consistent effort to dive in front of blistering shots – this time from Brock Boeser – shows a level of fearlessness that this Canucks backend will miss after the departure of Ian Cole.

There aren’t many areas of concern in Forbort’s game, but here are some things I noticed while dissecting his tape.

Unlike some videos above, the end result isn’t always as pretty when Forbort decides to pinch.

In this clip, he does a great job of beating the defender down the line and makes a nice pass to the front of the net. But when the play goes array and heads the other way with Forbort stuck behind the net, he doesn’t have the speed to catch up. As you can see, he’s the last Bruin to glide into the defensive zone.

While it’s really not that bad, especially if you have the F3 covering defence for you, there’s always a possibility of this leading to a goal with Forbort far behind the play.

Here’s another video where Forbort pinches, which leads to a 2-on-1 the other way. Forbort shows up after the Conor Garland shot goes off Jeremy Swayman’s pad. Once he rejoins the play, Forbort receives the potential breakout pass, and instead of throwing the puck off the wall for an easy clearance, he waits a half-second too long and gets double-teamed, which causes a turnover.

There were instances in the third period of the Flames game where Forbort would replace Mason Lohrei on a pairing with Charlie McAvoy on an offensive zone faceoff. It’s telling to watch Bruce Cassidy’s actions of trusting Forbort elevated in the lineup in a tie game late in the third period. And it wasn’t just in the defensive zone. Forbort was trusted with McAvoy to play on most draws in the offensive zone as well.

Could there be some untapped offensive upside to his game? He certainly doesn’t bring the same level of puck-moving ability Nikita Zadorov brought to the bottom pairing, but it might not be a complete zero in that department after all.

Forbort was very good at clearing the front of the net. There are many examples in the clips above where he picks a guy and uses his frame to shove them out of the way for the goalie to clearly keep his eyes on the play. Add this to his penalty-killing prowess and shot-blocking, Canucks fans can return hopeful that he can be relied upon as a healthy mainstay on the bottom pairing.

If you want more highlight reels from Derek Forbort last season, check out this hype clip the Canucks Twitter posted earlier this summer.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Are you excited about Derek Forbort wearing the blue and green next season?