Washington Capitals place $2 million defenseman on the NHL waiver wire

The Washington Capitals were a first round exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs a year ago, but with Alex Ovechkin still on their roster, they've made it clear that they have every intention of one last Stanley Cup run. This summer, the team added Matt Roy, Jakob Chychrun, Andrew Mangiapane and Pierre-Luc Dubois, fully re-tooling their roster, and now, someone has had to make way.

On Friday, that person officially became former Edmonton Oilers defenseman Ethan Bear, who was officially placed on waivers by the Capitals, being one of 25 players placed on waivers.

The 27-year old Bear played 24 games for the Capitals a season ago, but with just 4 points and a -5 differential in that time, it's safe to say that the team were happy to upgrade from him. While they gave him the opportunity to battle for a spot, he just couldn't cut it, and now he will look to land on his fifth team in the past five years after playing in Edmonton, Carolina, Vancouver and Washington.

The Saskatchewan native has had some productive years in the NHL, but last season was an injury riddled one that has many questioning his place in the league, even after signing a two-year, $2.062M AAV deal with the Capitals in the summer of 2023.

Now, we will see what happens with Bear as he will likely clear waivers, but without much production over the past few years, his NHL future is certainly up in the air, especially with teams narrowing down their rosters for the upcoming season.