The Washington Capitals were reported last week to be one of the NHL teams most interested in signing free agent defenseman Ethan Bear. The Capitals have long been admirers of the right-handed blueliner, showing interest in him at the beginning of last season as well.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared an update Saturday night on Bear’s status during a Saturday Headlines segment live on Sportsnet. Friedman singled out the Capitals as the team believed to be pushing the hardest to sign the 26-year-old defender.
It looks as if Ethan Bear is getting close to resuming his NHL career or at least picking a team that he’s going to do it with. There’s a number of other clubs that suspect that the Washington Capitals have really made a strong bid here. Nothing official at this time but it is believed the Capitals have made a legitimate run at him. I did think when this process began that Vancouver had the advantage but there’s just other teams out there who can do what Vancouver can’t, cap and salary wise. We’ll see how that unfolds over the next few days.
Bear is currently a free agent after not being tendered a qualifying offer by the Canucks this past offseason. The Regina-native re-aggravated a nagging shoulder injury issue with Team Canada at the World Championships last summer. He had surgery to address the problem and has been out for the entirety of the 2023-24 season while rehabbing.
Bear played in 61 games for the Canucks last season. Vancouver acquired him in a trade with the Hurricanes in late October of 2022 alongside forward Lane Pederson for a 2023 fifth-round draft selection. Bear managed to put up 16 points (3g, 13a) for the Canucks in those 61 games.
The Capitals are currently carrying a full, 23-man roster and have eight healthy defenders. If they add Bear, the Capitals will likely move one of the defensemen to fit him in. In recent weeks, both Alex Alexeyev and Lucas Johansen have been the team’s primary healthy scratches on the backend. Both players would need to clear waivers to be able to be sent down to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
Bear is right-handed and the three spots on the right side of the team’s defense seem to be pretty locked down. John Carlson, Nick Jensen, and Trevor van Riemsdyk are all signed through the 2025-26 season. TVR is capable playing the left side as well though without any real drop in play.
Friedman also mentioned the potential availability of another player the Capitals could be interested in. Vancouver Canucks winger Andrei Kuzmenko has played under 15 minutes of ice time in five of his last six games and been a healthy scratch twice since Thanksgiving.
Given that, Friedman reports that other teams have called Vancouver about the Russian winger. Kuzmenko put up 74 points (39g, 35a) last season with the Canucks and has one more year at $5.5 million on his contract that also includes a partial no-trade clause.
Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan has expressed his interest in adding a top-six forward to his group for months on end now. Kuzmenko could fit that billing although he may be slightly out of the age range that MacLellan is interested in as he turns 28 in February.
“Our goal is to have a top-six guy in the right age group, from the offseason, and our goal is still to do that,” MacLellan told reporters in November. “We’re still pursuing opportunities that might present that.”
The Capitals currently hold just above $8.1 million in cap space due to both Nicklas Backstrom and Max Pacioretty being on long-term injured reserve. While Pacioretty is expected to soon come off of LTIR, Backstrom is not.
Screenshot via Canucks
