Vancouver Canucks defenceman Ethan Bear may require surgery on his shoulder, according to a report from Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali — The Team.

“Sources say that discussions are taking place about a possible surgery for Ethan Bear on his shoulder,” Dhaliwal said. “That’s an injury suffered at the World Hockey Championships. If the surgery is done, recovery will take a few months. There’s also a route to playing and not having the surgery, so they’re in the discussion stage. Bear’s contract is up, he’s an RFA, you’ve got the Canucks’ cap crunch, you’ve got a possible surgery coming up, a one-year deal may be the way to go with Bear here.”

Bear missed Canada’s final two games of the World Championship in Finland, the team’s semi-final and final matchups en route to winning gold. The injury is believed to have been sustained in Canada’s final round robin game against Finland, as seen below:

Bear was one of four Canucks players to make the trip to Finland and Latvia for this year’s IIHF World Championship. Tyler Myers joined him on Team Canada, Conor Garland was the Canucks’ lone representative for Team USA, and Arturs Silovs stole the show, backstopping Latvia to their first bronze medal in IIHF history and securing the tournament’s MVP award.

After joining the Canucks in late October, Bear registered three goals and 16 points while averaging 18:32 minutes in ice time through 61 games this season. A restricted free agent, it will be interesting to see how this injury and potential surgery impacts the contract that Bear and the Canucks eventually agree to.

We’ll keep you updated on this story as it develops.