Canucks acquire Ethan Bear and Lane Pederson from Hurricanes for 5th round pick

The Vancouver Canucks have reportedly traded for right-shot defenceman Ethan Bear.

First reported by Kevin Weekes, the Canucks have traded a fifth-round pick in exchange for the 25-year-old defenceman and AHL forward, Lane Pederson.

Bear was a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and has played in 190 NHL games over five seasons.

His contract is a one-year deal that has a cap hit of $2,200,000. The Canucks have been rumoured to be involved in trade talks with the Hurricanes for quite a while now and because it’s Friday, the Canucks finally pulled off the deal.

Elliott Friedman is reporting that the Hurricanes are retaining $400,000 of the $2,200,000. This will mean that Bear’s cap hit is going to be $1,800,000 on the Canucks’ salary cap.

Bear should immediately jump into the Canucks’ lineup and could end up finding himself a tremendous opportunity if he is given a chance to skate with Quinn Hughes at some point.

After a down season in 2020-21, Bear had a decent bounce-back with the Carolina Hurricanes last season, where he put up five goals and nine assists in 58 games with the Canes. This year, Bear has struggled to get into the lineup. He has been beaten out by former Canuck Jalen Chatfield at the bottom end of the Canes’ defence corps.

The Canucks are likely hoping that another change of scenery helps Bear get back to being a promising young player like he was in 2019-20 when he had 21 points in 71 games with the Edmonton Oilers while playing top four minutes.

Bear stands at 5’11”, was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and played his junior hockey for the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL.