The Carolina Hurricanes have acquired young defenceman Ethan Bear from the Edmonton Oilers. In return, the Oilers will be getting Warren Foegele. Last season with the Oilers Bear played 43 games and scored two goals and six assists. In 53 games last season Foegele scored 10 goals and 10 assists.
Per @reporterchris Ethan Bear to CAR for Warren Foegele
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 28, 2021
Oilers Trade Ethan Bear To Hurricanes
Bear was a standout player for the Oilers during the shortened 2019-20 season. He showed off his ability to break up a play, as well as his ability to generate meaningful offence. In 71 games that year he scored five goals and 16 assists for 21 points. A 5th round pick by Edmonton in 2015, Bear has a lot of room to grow his game at 24 years old. He’ll join Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce in a highly-skilled group on Carolina’s blue line.
Foegele is a solid middle-six forward with a strong two-way game. Last season with Carolina was another strong campaign for the Markham, Ontario native, on pace to tie his career-best year in points with 30. In 200 NHL games, Foegele has scored 35 goals and 33 assists for 68 career points, all for the Hurricanes. Ken Holland and the Oilers will be getting a nice defensive addition to their bottom-six, something they’ve lacked for a while.
What This Means for the Future
Bear will fit nicely in an already skilled Canes blue line. He’ll have one of the best mentors in the league in Slavin, and will play meaningful minutes early on in the season as well. He’s a fast, composed skater with great ice vision that can only improve on his game playing next to Slavin, Pesce, and the rest of the blue line. AS for Foegele, he’ll be relied upon heavily to play a shutdown role on the third line in Edmonton. Recent criticism of the Oilers is that they haven’t ever had a great bottom six. With Foegele now a member of the team, and the signing of winger Zach Hyman, the team’s depth seems to be improving significantly.
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