The Washington Capitals have reportedly added to their roster via a rare midseason free agency signing. For the last week, the Capitals have been involved in rumors around defenseman Ethan Bear and now those rumors seem to have come to fruition.
Hockey insider Chris Johnston revealed on TSN’s Insider Trading segment on Tuesday that the Capitals have inked Bear to a two-year contract. The additional year on the deal is purportedly what pushed Bear to pick the Capitals over other potential suitors.
Here are Johnston’s full words on the move:
The final details and some of the logistics are still being ironed out but it does appear that Ethan Bear will join the Washington Capitals and they emerged among a group of teams that included his former team, the Vancouver Canucks. I think the Maple Leafs at least inquired there too and some others but [the Capitals] offered him a two-year contract and it looks like that two-year deal will come in the neighborhood of $2 million once it’s completed. Bear, of course, is coming off of shoulder surgery in the offseason from an injury suffered last year at the World Hockey Championship while playing for Team Canada. The opportunity to play somewhere like Washington with a little bit of security ultimately is going to be what takes him to DC.
Bear has not played in an NHL game since April 13th of last season. In 61 games for the Canucks last year, he put up 16 points (3g, 13a).
The 26-year-old blueliner’s apparent $2 million cap hit will cut into the Capitals’ $8.1 million in cap space which they have due to both Nicklas Backstrom and Max Pacioretty being on long-term injured reserve. While Pacioretty’s impending return will knock an additional $2 million off that total, the team will still have plenty of room as Backstrom is not expected to play again.
An accompanying roster move will need to be made by the Capitals once they sign Bear as the team is currently carrying a full complement of 23 players. The most likely move will be placing one of Alex Alexeyev or Lucas Johansen on waivers as neither young defender has received a jersey from head coach Spencer Carbery in recent weeks.
Bear is right-handed so if Carbery plans to implement him in the team’s everyday lineup, it’s likely that Trevor van Riemsdyk will need to be moved to the left side on one of the pairings. TVR is comfortable playing on his off-hand side and has done so for the Capitals several times since signing with the club back in 2020.
S/T to Ryan Ellis for alerting us of this report
Screenshot via Canucks
