Ethan Bear and Lane Pederson were traded to the Vancouver Canucks by the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.
Carolina received a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Bear, a defenseman, has not played an NHL game this season. He had 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 58 games for Carolina last season and did not play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The 25-year-old signed a one-year, $2.2 million contract with the Hurricanes on July 28 and can become a restricted free agent after the season.
“Obviously, we’ve watched him through the Western Hockey League starting in Seattle and had an early start in Edmonton and got traded to Carolina, and hopefully he’s excited to come back to Canada and be part of the Vancouver Canucks and hopefully this will give the coaching staff more options on the back end,” general manager Patrik Allvin said. “He’s a very smart defenseman and he showed early in his career in Edmonton that he is a really good puck mover and transition defenseman.”
Selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the fifth round (No. 124) of the 2015 NHL Draft, Bear has 47 points (13 goals, 34 assists) in 190 regular-season games for the Oilers and Hurricanes and no points in eight playoff games.
“Everything we can do to improve our team, I’m good [with it],” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I haven’t seen Ethan play in a long time, but I remember him in Edmonton as a very good puck-moving defenseman and very aggressive offensively, so we’re looking forward to having him here.”
Pederson, a forward, was acquired by Carolina on July 13 from the San Jose Sharks, along with defenseman Brent Burns. He has not played in the NHL this season and has no points in four games with Chicago of the American Hockey League.
The 25-year-old is in the final season of a two-year contract he signed with San Jose on July 28, 2021, and can become an RFA after the season.
Signed by the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 13, 2016, Pederson has five points (one goal, four assists) in 44 regular-season games with the Coyotes and Sharks.
Vancouver is currently without defensemen Quinn Hughes, who is week to week with a lower-body injury, Travis Dermott (upper-body injury), Tucker Poolman (undisclosed) and Riley Stillman (undisclosed). The Canucks have played 10 defensemen this season.
“We have been a little bit depleted here early on our back end,” Allvin said. “As we said all the way along, we wanted to add younger players. We got a right-shot defenseman that’s been playing in the League for a couple of years and been part of some playoffs and hopefully we could get him back on track here with our group.”
On Thursday, Vancouver acquired forward Jack Studnicka from the Boston Bruins for goalie Michael Dipietro and defenseman prospect Jonathan Myrenberg.
Studnicka, 23, has played one game with the Bruins this season. He has seven points (one goal, six assists) in 38 regular-season games since he was selected in the second round (No. 53) of the 2017 NHL Draft. Studnicka has no points in five postseason games.
The Canucks (2-5-2) won their second straight game Friday, 5-1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They got their first win of the season with a 5-4 victory against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.
NHL.com independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report