Ethan Bear says he’d love to come back to the Vancouver Canucks

On Wednesday, Ethan Bear spoke with Patrick Johnston of The Province in an exclusive interview, the defenceman’s first with local media since he became an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. As of August 3rd, Bear remains unsigned.

This obviously leaves the door open for a return to the Vancouver Canucks, something Bear says he’s more than open to.

“I would love to come back to the Canucks. I would love to. But that’s how the business goes. I was talking with Patrik (Allvin) and he told me himself ‘we have to clear some cap space,” Bear told Postmedia.

Bear added that he sees his situation as “a blessing, not a curse” as he now gets ample time to fully rest up and completely heal from the shoulder issue he’s been playing through for years now. While playing for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship, Bear reaggravated the injury to the point where surgery was deemed the best course of action.

Bear also said in the interview that his shoulder is doing “really well”, which might leave the door open for Bear to return to game action sooner than December, the originally anticipated timeline that the Canucks gave when they announced his surgery in June. Bear did mention that he’s still most likely to return in December, but that his recovery is probably “a little bit ahead of schedule.” The Canucks chose not to qualify the restricted free agent last month, making him an unrestricted free agent and allowing him to hit the open market.

Acquired by the Canucks last October from the Carolina Hurricanes, Bear, who just turned 26 in June, registered three goals and 16 points while averaging 18:32 minutes in ice time through 61 games this past season. Bear was Quinn Hughes’ most consistent defence partner on the top pair. The Canucks don’t have a ton of cap space to play with at the moment, and you can read our full breakdown of the team’s cap situation from last week here.

Would you like to see Bear return to the Canucks? Let us know in the comments section below!