Hurricanes blueliner is available and a trusted insider says he makes sense for the Leafs
The Carolina Hurricanes added Brent Burns, Calvin De Haan and Dylan Coghlan during the off-season to strengthen their blueline into one of the best ones in the league. Already anchored by Jaccob Slavin, Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce the additions of De Haan, Coghlan and Burns gave the Hurricanes a very solid and dangerous top 6. That left Ethan Bear as the seventh defenseman.
Unfortunately for Bear, he has slowly found his way to being the eighth defenseman now behind Jalen Chatfield. The Hurricanes are in no rush to trade him and believe he is an NHL defenseman, but just don't have the room for him to play consistently. With uncertainty surrounding Jake Muzzin, the Leafs should inquire about the asking price for Bear.
A right-handed shot with a $2.2M salary for this season, Bear is a solid defenseman with some offensive upside. Bear would also be an RFA at the end of the season, meaning this would be more than a one or half season rental - something Kyle Dubas prefers to avoid. If Muzzin is out long-term, Bear would be a suitable replacement. Even better because it will allow Sandin to shift back to the left side and earn more responsibility in the top-4. Bear would then become the team's 3RHD.
Elliotte Friedman notes that for the Leafs to make a deal for Bear some salary would have to be moved around given the pending return of Matt Murray and Timothy Liljegren from LTIR. Given that Bear is the Hurricanes' 8th defenseman, the asking price should not be overly high and while the Leafs could use more depth on the blueline, they are not desperate by any means, so Carolina would not be able to force Dubas to pay an absurd price.
Yesterday, we tossed out the idea of an Engvall for Bear swap. That sounds about right as far as price goes.
