Ex-Canucks defenceman Bear explains why he chose to sign with Capitals
The Ethan Bear sweepstakes are over and the ex-Vancouver Canucks defenceman is headed to the Washington Capitals.
The team posted on social media on Wednesday morning that the 26-year-old is now skating with the Capitals. Contract details haven’t been released as of yet, but the expectation is that Bear will eventually sign with Washington.
#Caps are expected to officially sign defenseman Ethan Bear at a later date. Bear will join the team for todayās morning skate as he continues his rehabilitation process.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 20, 2023
Bear met with reporters after his first skate with Washington this morning, where he discussed why he decided to sign with the Capitals.
“I’ve heard such good things about the [Capitals] organization, they have great leadership here,” Bear told reporters. “It honestly felt like they cared a lot. They want me here, instead of needing me.”
āIāve heard such good things about the organization ā¦ It honestly felt like they cared a lot. They want me here, instead of needing me.ā
Ethan Bear speaks with the media after his first time skating with the Capitals today.#ALLCAPS | @MedStarHealth pic.twitter.com/DJM6vmAORS
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 20, 2023
When it comes to contract negotiations, Bear said that the Capitals were very understanding and didn’t want him to rush things along with his recovery process from major shoulder surgery over the summer.
“I feel really good, it’s been a long six months,” said Bear. “[The Capitals] were very cooperative, they weren’t trying to rush me into anything.”
The whole process of suffering an injury and navigating free agency is a first for the Saskatchewan native. He told reporters that he learnt a lot through it all and is happy to finally have a team he can focus on.
“It’s been interesting, to be honest, it’s been really good,” said Bear. “Seeing your worth, knowing there [are] a bunch of teams interested and not being just kind of trapped on one team and having to be an RFA.
“It’s been pretty cool to have that control and have a little bit more say in where I wanna go and what I wanna do.”
Bear has had some trouble finding a consistent place to call home over the past few seasons. He broke into the league with the Edmonton Oilers back in 2017-18 and became a full-time NHL defenceman the next season in 2019-20.
Despite putting up good underlying numbers, the Oilers decided to move on from Bear in the summer of 2021, trading him to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Warren Foegele. In Carolina, Bear ran into similar problems and could not gain the full trust of head coach Rob Brind’Amour. He only lasted a season with the Hurricanes before being traded to the Canucks last season.
This seemed like a good fit for both Bear and the Canucks. He was able to finally gain favour with an NHL coach and spent the majority of his time playing alongside Quinn Hughes on the Canucks’ top defensive pair. All indications pointed to Bear signing an extension with Vancouver in the summer.
Unfortunately, that never came to pass. Bear suffered a major shoulder injury while playing for Team Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Championships and was expected to be out for six months. This caused the Canucks to not qualify Bear’s contract, making him a free agent.
When it came out that Bear was close to returning from this injury, the Canucks were initially seen as the favourites to sign him. However, after trading for defenceman Nikita Zadorov, the Canucks did not have enough cap space to sign Bear.
The Capitals quickly became the new favourites and acted fast to make sure he was headed to DC.
As of now, it is not exactly clear what Bear’s contract with the Capitals will look like or when he will make his debut.
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