Elliotte Friedman: All eyes are pointing to the Washington Capitals signing free agent defenseman Ethan Bear.
Rick Dhaliwal: Bear could be getting some term on his next deal and that is something the Canucks can not do.
The Canucks need Bear on a pro-rated $1 million deal.
Rick Dhaliwal: The Vancouver Canucks have been told that they are no longer in the running for Bear.
Satiar Shah: “If Bear does land in Washington with term on his deal that would mean the Capitals have 4 right handed D-men with term left on their contracts:
John Carlson
Nick Jensen
Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Ethan Bear
The Caps extended Jensen & TVR last spring”
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Mark was right about the Flyers episode on free agent defenseman Ethan Bear.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “Meanwhile, Ethan bear. Where oh where will the Bear and up, Elliotte?
Friedman: “Where will the Bear come out of hibernation?”
Marek: “He’s close.”
Friedman: “You know, I think it sounds like it’s gonna be Washington. It sounds like the Capitals are the team here. No, 100% confirmation but you know there were a few teams that were in on Bear that pointed me in that direction. Said they think that Washington has been aggressive.
The other thing that they said is that they are, like a bunch of teams are hoping to get Bear in for whatever they could this year and will then sign them to another contract in the summer. And you know, Washington, it sounds like is prepared to offer a little bit of term.
So instead of and you know, unfortunately for Bear, here’s a guy who’s seen the risk of short-term contracts. Last spring, he, he’s on a short-term contract, and he gets injured in the World Championships and needs surgery. Now he had a really good insurance policy. It’s an insurance policy that based him on a $3 million contract. So he’s been well protected and good job by his agent there, who’s Jason Davidson.
But I think, but that goes away once he starts playing. And so I think what, what other teams believe the Capitals have done here, is they have the ability to say, or they’re prepared to maybe put some term on this. So there’s an advantage to Bear taking their, taking their offer now, as opposed to teams that will say, ‘hey, we’ll sign you now and then we’ll do something in the summer.’
Because I could understand even Bear wanting a bit more security after what he’s been through. Now. We’ll find out if all of this turns out to be true. But that’s what other teams suspect.