Hurricanes News: Ethan Bear gets permission to speak with other teams
By Jim Lynch
The Carolina Hurricanes could be losing a young defenseman that they traded for last offseason. Ethan Bear could be signing with a different team depending on how things go in the next few weeks.
Elliotte Friedman reported yesterday that the Hurricanes gave Ethan Bear permission to talk to other teams. While the Hurricanes still hope to sign Bear, the two sides not being close on a deal could lead them to try and trade him in order to bring back some assets.
In 58 games this past season Bear put up 14 points during that time. This was not his best season by far, but he also was only averaging 16:05 a night, a career-low compared to his ice time in Edmonton.
Bear will be 25 going into next season and still has a lot to give to a team in the NHL. He is a right-handed defenseman who could potentially turn into a good top-four defenseman on a team.
Bear did suffer with long-term COVID as well as a lower-body injury this past season. He did not play in any of the Hurricanes’ playoff games this past season, and it does not seem like Carolina is ready to take a chance on Bear at a higher price or for more term than he could potentially get on another team.
The Hurricanes have just four defensemen signed for next season from their NHL roster. Those players are Jaccob Slavin, Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce, and Jalen Chatfield. Bear and Tony Deangelo are the team’s two restricted free agent defensemen, and the team also has Ian Cole and Brendan Smith hitting free agency as well.
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The Hurricanes only have 19 million in cap space to work with this offseason and they have a lot of forwards they need to bring back as well. Bear asking for too high a price definitely is going to turn Carolina away if they want to bring back Deangelo or Domi