Canucks have key decision to make on Bear after Ekman-Larsson's buyout

VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks put a lot of money in the bank and a little hole in their lineup with the surprise buyout last week of defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

They need to be careful that hole doesn’t get needlessly bigger, which is why the National Hockey League team should tread carefully with restricted free agent Ethan Bear.

Although general manager Patrik Allvin said Wednesday it is too early to declare whether the Canucks will retain their exclusive rights to Bear by making the restricted free agent a qualifying offer, the GM made it clear that the defenceman’s recovery from shoulder surgery affects the club’s decision-making.

Bear required surgery after aggravating a shoulder injury while playing for Team Canada at the world championship last month. He is due a qualifying offer of $2.2 million by June 30, which seemed like a formality until the Canucks learned the 25-year-old’s recovery from surgery will extend into December.

Bear will be eligible for unrestricted free agency on July 1 if Allvin chooses not to qualify him.

“I mean plus, minus six months, so it definitely plays into it a lot,” Allvin told reporters when asked how the injury affects Bear’s qualifying offer.

“Going back to, I think, November last year (was) when we first started talking about different options and extensions. I think he made it public, too, that he wanted to wait to after the season. I'm very happy that he was part of Hockey Canada winning the gold medal at the world championship, but very unfortunate for him with a shoulder injury.”

Acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes for a fifth-round pick last Oct. 28, Bear was one of Allvin’s clear wins in the trade market. After an unhappy time in Raleigh, N.C., Bear re-set his NHL career with the Canucks, averaging 18:32 of ice time in 61 games while leading Vancouver defencemen in expected goals at 50.73 per cent.

Sure, it would help if Bear were a little more physical or had more reach (he is five-foot-11), but his puck retrievals and passing are excellent and he brought a dependable game and winning attitude with him from the Hurricanes.

Allvin said he is looking at “all the options,” which include negotiating a one-year, show-me deal at something below Bear’s qualifying offer.

The Canucks impressively added and developed several defence prospects last season, graduating Christian Wolanin and Guillaume Brisebois to the NHL from the AHL, and signing college free agents Akito Hirose and Cole McWard. Another good prospect, former Minnesota Wild first-round pick Filip Johansson, is arriving from Sweden next season.

But it is a lot to expect any of these defencemen to play up the lineup in the gap between Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek and the bottom pairing.

“There's no doubt that there is a lot of work to be done here in order for us to get better,” Allvin said. “We are well aware of that. We've been digging in and checking in what's available around the league.”

They also have money to spend as the $19.3-million buyout of Ekman-Larson creates $7.1 million in salary-cap space next season alone.

The Canucks explored trading for cap space, but became convinced that taking on eight years of dead-cap money to buy out the final four seasons of Ekman-Larsson’s contract was the best way to create some spending flexibility.

“My goal is just not to create cap space; our goal is to improve our hockey team,” Allvin said during his first media availability since a season-ending press conference in April. “This definitely gives us a chance to improve our team by creating this cap flexibility here.

“As I said to you guys before, I am not a big fan of buyouts. But in this particular case, we thought there was an opportunity too good to pass up on. It was too good to pass up to get this cap flexibility, create the cap space this year, but also give us a chance to plan for the future here.

“It definitely gives us the opportunity to be part of either trades or free-agent signings. If we're going to use all of it, it's too early to tell. I want to use it to definitely improve our team in some of the areas that we need to.”

While needing at least one second-pairing defenceman, the Canucks identified a third-line centre as their top priority when the season ended.

Trading for Ekman-Larsson two years ago, when he had six seasons remaining on the $66-million contract he was given by the Arizona Coyotes, turned out to be one of former Canucks general manager Jim Benning’s biggest mistakes. Allvin, or rather Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini, paid for that mistake.

“Sometimes it's just not a great fit when trades happen,” Allvin said. “This team wasn't a great fit for Oliver coming in here. I don't know what his expectations were. I know it's been tough playing for two different coaches. It was just the right time for us to move on there.”

Allvin dropped a few news nuggets into his 25-minute press conference:

• He floated the idea of moving up, not down, from the Canucks’ position at No. 11 in next week’s draft in Nashville. “I was told by former GM Brian Burke that you can always move up in the draft,” he said.

• Allvin expects winger Brock Boeser, who rescinded his trade request at the end of the season and vowed to get faster over the summer, to be part of the Canucks in the fall.

“I think he's an age where he understands that he needed a significant change in the summer, and he was committed to do that. So I'm excited to see Brock coming back in September, ready to go.”

• With the buyout of Ekman-Larsson and injury to Bear, Tyler Myers appears to be back in the Canucks’ plans for next season despite a $6-million cap hit that is the most onerous on the team.

•While calling Canuck Elias Pettersson one of the 10 or 15 best players in the NHL last season, Allvin said there is “no rush” to negotiate a long-term extension for the star but that conversations with Pettersson’s agents will continue. A restricted free agent in 2024, the 102-point centre is eligible to sign an extension anytime after July 1.