Canucks want to bring Bear back and trade for another defenceman: report
Despite a great start to the season, the Vancouver Canucks are still looking to improve their defence.
CHEK Media’s Rick Dhaliwal reported today on Donnie & DhaliĀ that the Canucks are “one of the more aggressive teams on the trade market” as they are trying to “upgrade their defence.”
He also mentioned that the Canucks still have interest in former defenceman Ethan Bear. The 26-year-old is still recovering from a shoulder injury suffered at the IIHF World Championship last spring and does not currently have an NHL contract.
“Despite them trying to upgrade the defence, they’re still in on Ethan Bear,” Dhaliwal said. “Even if they acquire another defenceman, I’m told that there is still interest in Ethan Bear. They like him a lot.”
"I've been told they are still trying to upgrade the defense.."@DhaliwalSports on what he is hearing from #Canucks sources on upgrading the defense, Garland, Bear and more.https://t.co/h4e2SKM7eJ pic.twitter.com/ewYETIDb8L
— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) November 3, 2023
Bear played 61 games for the Canucks last season and finished with three goals and 13 assists for 16 points. Most importantly, the right-handed defenceman looked like a strong fit next to superstar Quinn Hughes.
The pair played around 364 minutes together at five-on-five, and the Canucks outscored opponents 21-13 during that time. The two also had the best share of the expected goals among all Canucks pairings that played at least 200 five-on-five minutes together.
Last season, Bear was playing on a one-year contract worth $2.2 million. It’s reasonable to believe that any contract signed this season would be even cheaper due to his injury.
CapFriendly shows the Canucks as having $162,500 under the salary cap as of right now. They would thus need to make another transaction to bring the defenceman back into the fold.
Adding Bear, or anyone for that matter, likely means getting rid of another player to create space.
That would mean sending someone like Jack Studnicka or Noah Juulsen down to the AHL through waivers, and even that would only create around $900,000 of cap space.
The most straightforward way to free up the money required to add to this roster would be through a trade. Dhaliwal reported earlier this week that the Canucks were “working the phones big time” as they look to find a partner to make a deal.
A natural asset for the Canucks to dangle in those trade talks would be Conor Garland, whose agent was granted permission to seek a new home before this season. However, Dhaliwal reported today that trade talks surrounding the winger have cooled down.
“Everything has gone quiet. Remember a couple of weeks ago, a couple of national guys were going, ‘There’s a buzz.’ There is no buzz,” Dhaliwal said. “The contract with term is hard to move. He’s not a five-million-dollar player. A lot of teams think he’s a three million dollar player, but I believe the Canucks think he’s a four million dollar player.”
Garland’s current cap hit is $4.95 million, and he has two more seasons left on his contract after this one.
Follow Channels and Categories