From dog-walking to skating, Derek Forbort has worked his way back into the Kings lineup

Darla helped Derek Forbort get through some of the tougher times of his career these past few months as he recovered from an injured back.

If the 27-year-old Kings defenseman needed her, she was always close by at home. After all, he was responsible for changing her life by giving her a new home in October.

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Did we mention Darla is an aging basset hound?

Forbort adopted the 9-year-old dog in October from a Long Beach-based company and posted on his Instagram account: “She loves breakfast but hates hills. We nap together and scratch each others bellies. We’re figuring this thing out.”

(Side note: Almost everyone hates hills.)

Then came this quality chirp from Kings goaltender Jack Campbell: “Darla has nicer calves.”

One of the many positive byproducts of Darla joining the dog-loving Forbort and his household was that her presence got him moving around much more, by necessity.

“It kept me busy instead of being on the couch all day — going on walks with her,” Forbort said.

Forbort injured his back last summer during offseason training, then had a setback on the ice in early December. The two issues were not related, according to Forbort.

“Just a back spasm,” he said. “Kind of like what people get when they’re tying their shoes. I was 40 minutes into practice, feeling good, and I don’t know, it just spasmed on me. It kind of sucked.

“I was pretty riled up. Shit like that happens.”

For him, one of the final keys was getting through “a certain workload without any setbacks.”

Forbort returned to the Kings’ lineup at Staples Center on Monday, making his season debut in a 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was two days short of nine months since his last NHL game, the Kings’ season finale against the Vegas Golden Knights on April 6.

Since he last played, the Kings’ world has been reshaped with a new coach (Todd McLellan), a new assistant in charge of the defense (Trent Yawney) and a new look on defense with an infusion of youth.

Forbort, playing on the third pair with Matt Roy, had his path to a return eased somewhat, logging 14:25 of ice time. He averaged 20-plus minutes of ice time the past three seasons.

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“The pace is obviously a lot quicker,” McLellan said. “We’re playing a different system than he’s used to, although he did practice it and play it a lot in Ontario when he was down there (for five games). But it is a different-paced game. The skill level is obviously different.

“I thought he handled himself well. We pay him to defend well, and I think he did most of that for the most part. The polish and shot selection, making plays and coming out of his end that’s going to come eventually, but it will take a little while.”

Said Forbort: “The first period felt a little weird, just kind of getting used to the speed, and the different things we’re doing out there. The first period was definitely an adjustment. Felt a little more comfortable in the third.”

The Kings’ roster looked quite a bit different from two games ago, when they had one of their more complete showings of the season in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on on New Year’s Eve.

Defenseman Alec Martinez, who had been out since Nov. 25, returned against Nashville on Saturday. Martinez had been recovering from surgery following a lacerated wrist caused by the skate of San Jose Sharks forward Melker Karlsson.

Additionally, Dustin Brown (pneumonia), Trevor Lewis (lower-body injury) and Forbort were back against the Blue Jackets. With Lewis coming off IR, forward Martin Frk was reassigned to Ontario of the AHL.

Much of what the Kings are doing is tied to future potential moves. The NHL’s trade deadline is Feb. 24.

“It’s a lot to put into a game, but it’s never ideal,” McLellan said. “It’s not something we want to do, but it’s something we need to do right now, based on where we’re at and what we’re looking at doing.

“So we’ve got to get those players in and get them up and running. Each of them was out for a different purpose or reason. Some were able to skate and perform in practice, so they’re a little more polished than others. I thought each of them had a positive impact at some point, and then we’re playing catchup with others, but that’s to be expected when you’re coming back from pneumonia, for example, and everything else over and above that.”

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Since the victory against the Flyers, the Kings have lost back-to-back games. It’s clear that a B-plus effort, or even an A-minus, isn’t enough against certain opponents.

“I don’t know that we’ve played that many poor games,” McLellan said. “Let’s go back to the Nashville one. … It was poor. It was ugly. It was disappointing. It was everything it was billed to be.

“Prior to that, we had a pretty good run, a pretty good string of games. As we grow and we develop, we have to play an A game to win right now. We have to play an A game to score. We need tremendous goaltending. We need good penalty kill. We’ve got to prevent goals to have success.

“That’s OK. We know where we are. But some nights, we just don’t get all of that at the same time and it cost us. I’ve had no complaints other than the Nashville game lately for the input into the game. You don’t always get the results you want. But the input is what we’re really looking at — for the most part it’s been there.”

‘There’s more’ in Prokhorkin

McLellan discussed the progress of Kings rookie forward Nikolai Prokhorkin, who was on a line with Jeff Carter and Brown against the Blue Jackets. In 24 games, Prokhorkin has 11 points (four goals, seven assists).

“Nikolai has had a tough time coming over,” McLellan said. “He’s been here before, but he’s still adjusting to a new environment, coaching, language, teammates. His opportunity to start in the American League was valuable. I’m sure he didn’t think that.

“Then he had a little bit of a pause here. But since then, he’s really worked hard. He’s become part of the team. … He provides a skill element for our team. So he’s got a passing grade in my mind. I will say this: I think there’s more there. And we’re going to push him to get it out.”

Top photo of Derek Forbort: Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Photo

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