The Washington Capitals appear close to be adding free agent Ethan Bear to their defense corps. After the latest episode of Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek’s 32 Thoughts Podcast, we now know why they’ve been reported as the 26-year-old blueliner’s top suitor.
Friedman revealed that the Capitals are the perceived frontrunners due to their willingness to add term to any potential contract. Bear is coming off a summer where he was left without a team after signing just a one-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2022 and needing offseason surgery on his shoulder.
Here is everything Friedman had to say about the situation:
Elliotte Friedman: Where will the bear come out of hibernation?
It sounds like it’s going to be Washington. It sounds like the Capitals are the team here. No one hundred percent confirmation, but there were a few teams that were in on Bear that pointed me in that direction. Said they think that Washington has been aggressive. The other thing that they said is that they are — a bunch of teams were hoping to get Bear in for whatever they could this year and then sign him to another contract this summer. Washington, it sounds like, is prepared to offer a little bit of term.
Unfortunately for Bear, here’s a guy who’s seen the risk of short-term contracts. Last spring, he’s on a short-term contract and he gets injured in the World Championships and needs surgery. Now he had a really good insurance policy. It’s an insurance policy that based him on a three-million dollar contract. So he’s been well-protected, and good job by his agent there, who is Jason Davidson. But that goes away once he starts playing, and so I think what other teams believe the Capitals have done here is they have the ability to say or they’re prepared to maybe put some term on this. So there’s an advantage to Bear taking their offer now as opposed to teams that will say, ‘hey, we’ll sign you now and then we’ll do something in the summer.’ I can understand Bear wanting a little bit more security after what he’s been through.
Now, we’ll find out if all this turns out to be true. But that’s what other teams suspect.
The Capitals are currently carrying eight defensemen on their active roster and three of those players, Rasmus Sandin, Joel Edmundson, and Lucas Johansen, do not yet have contracts for next season. The team’s three highest-paid defenders are all right-sided: John Carlson, Nick Jensen, and Trevor van Riemsdyk. If Bear, a right-handed rearguard himself, signs in DC, he could push TVR back to the left side if the Caps feel he’s an every-game player.
Bear has not played in an NHL game since April 13th of last season. The Regina-native re-aggravated a nagging shoulder injury issue with Team Canada at the World Championships last summer and has been out for the entirety of the 2023-24 season rehabbing.
Last week, Friedman reported that Bear was hosting teams for a workout in Kelowna, British Columbia so they could see him be put through his paces before committing to a contract offer. The Capitals were thought to be one of the teams headed up to Canada to attend that skate.
All eyes on Washington. We will see https://t.co/WhF99g6eRK
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 11, 2023
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 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. Bear has no strings attached to any other NHL team, due to being non-tendered by the Canucks, so whoever adds him to their roster will do so just for the salary it costs to sign him.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
