The Washington Capitals are reportedly interested in adding free agent defenseman Ethan Bear to their roster. Hockey insider Chris Johnston outlined Bear’s current situation on TSN’s most recent Insider Trading segment and mentioned the Capitals as the team to watch to acquire his services.
Bear is a player that the Capitals have showed interest in before. In October of 2022, before Bears was ultimately traded to the Vancouver Canucks, the Capitals were reportedly one of the teams circling the Carolina Hurricanes to try and trade for the right-handed blueliner.
Bear is currently a free agent after not being tendered a qualifying offer by the Canucks this past offseason. The Regina-native has been out for the entirety of the beginning of this season after being forced to have shoulder surgery in the summer after re-aggravating a nagging issue with Team Canada at the World Championships.
[Bear] is getting very close and the fact that he’s only going to cost you the cap space it takes to bring him has helped drive some of the interest on the 26-year-old defenseman. [It’s] to the point that he’s going to allow teams on Monday of next week to come to Kelowna if anyone wants to get a look at him on the ice and see him go through his paces after having offseason shoulder surgery. Remember, he was injured playing for Team Canada at the World Championship last year and he’s had a long recovery from that shoulder surgery. The Vancouver Canucks have interest in bringing him back and I think the Leafs have shown interest. The team to watch could be the Washington Capitals, they seem to be keenly interested. New Jersey and Pittsburgh as well but there’s certainly no shortage of interest in Bear who can be signed just for the money it costs to pay him.
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 chock full of defensemen on their NHL roster so an accompanying move may need to be made if they do eventually sign Bear. On the right side of the team’s defense, where Bear plays, the Capitals have their three highest-paid blueliners in John Carlson ($8 million), Nick Jensen ($4.05 million), and Trevor van Riemsdyk ($3 million).
On the left side, they are carrying five players and none of the full complement of eight are waiver exempt so it won’t be as simple as just sending one of them down to the AHL’s Hershey Bears without any risk. Alex Alexeyev and Lucas Johansen have been healthy scratches for several games in a row now so they would likely be the first to be chosen to go through waivers.
The Capitals’ interest in Bear makes sense as the veterans on their right side have struggled mightily to start this season. Particularly, Jensen, as when he’s on the ice at five-on-five this season, the Capitals see just 43.2 percent of the shot attempts, 39 percent of the expected goals, 40.2 percent of the scoring chances, and 40.6 percent of the high-danger chances.
Bear was a major positive when he was on the ice for the Canucks last season. When you look at his relative stats aka the percentage point difference between the selected stat and the team’s percentage in that stat with that player on the bench, you’ll see that effect. Bear was +3.4 percent in shot attempts, +5.1 percent in expected goals, +2.1 percent in scoring chances, and +6.7 percent in high-danger chances.
Screenshot: Canucks
