Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Everything but the Waffles.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “… but you talked about Ethan Bear on Saturday on Hockey Night. What’s happening with Ethan Bear? There does not seem to be any room at the inn here for the right shot D.
Friedman: “Look, he hasn’t played yet. Like I said, I don’t think there’s anything nefarious here, Rod Brind’Amour is just going with the lineup that he thinks gives him the best chance to win.
And after I reported it Saturday night, I heard that there was actually a trade request in last summer. That he wanted to move on. Obviously, it didn’t happen.
And one of the things I heard, the Hurricanes have told people is, ‘Look, we don’t have a cap problem,’ and they’ve told people he’s an NHL defenseman. ‘He’s not playing for us right now, but he is an NHL defenseman.’
Basically, they said, we don’t have cap problem, so it doesn’t make any sense for us to keep 50 percent of his salary and then get a poor or minimal return.
So what I think they’re going to is, if someone doesn’t step up, and I think Vancouver’s been one of the teams that’s kind of looked at it there.
To be honest, I also wonder if it makes sense for a team like Toronto too, but that would also take some moving around of people and bodies. But definitely, Vancouver’s been in it.
I think their position is, we’re not keeping 50 percent for a bad deal. So if somebody doesn’t step up, I wonder if they just put him on waivers. And I think at some level, Bear would welcome that cause if someone takes him, he goes and plays. But if someone doesn’t take him, at least he goes in plays in AHL Chicago. I just think he wants to play.”