“There’s a rumour going around that Ethan Bear is close to being traded. The Carolina defenceman can’t get into Rod Brind’Amour’s lineup. I believe the Canucks are still trying to acquire Bear. He falls into that category of 26 and younger right-shot D, the Canucks like this player.

“He hasn’t played, he would need two to three weeks to get into game shape. All these injuries are hurting the Canucks’ flexibility right now to make trades. The six guys on the injured list is not helping them to make trades, but they are in on Bear, they’re open to trades, but it’s hard with some of their bad contracts.”