Bruins d-man Derek Forbort expected to miss rest of regular season originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins will be without an important part of their blue line for a while.
Veteran defenseman Derek Forbort is not expected to return before the end of the regular season, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters Tuesday. Forbort doesn’t need surgery, per Montgomery, which is good news.
Forbort’s injury came in last Thursday’s win over the Winnipeg Jets. He blocked a shot in the second period and was later ruled out for the remainder of the game.
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The Bruins have an NHL-leading 53-11-5 record with 13 games left in the regular season. Boston’s final regular season game is scheduled for April 13 at the Montreal Canadiens.
There’s absolutely no need to rush Forbort back to the lineup. He’s an important penalty killer and brings a valuable physical presence to the ice each game. They need him to be as fresh and healthy as possible for the playoffs (assuming he’s ready to return at that time).
Luckily for the Bruins, they have tremendous depth on the blue line. Forbort, before his injury, was one of seven defensemen on the team’s NHL roster. The Bruins can either roll with the other six defensemen or add Jakub Zboril into the mix and continue to rotate different guys in and out of the lineup.