This concludes the mini-series on 2025 NHL Entry Draft eligible WHL prospects. I am perhaps most enthusiastic about this one as it covers a player who I see as one of the class’ most versatile and having a tremendous ceiling. His stock has been seemingly on the rise during his tremendous DY, and a number of members of my inner circle are rightfully enthusiastic about him, as am I. Akin to the Lakovic article, this will make some projections and comparisons about what sort of NHL player he can be. Let us now commence our analysis of his profile.

Carter Bear was born on November 4th, 2006 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Like many great prospects before him, he was a participant in some coveted youth tournaments. He appeared at the Brick Invitational with the Winnipeg Jr. Jets in 2016, tallying 1 goal in 6 games. Subsequently, he was a participant in the World Selects Invitational at both the U12 and U13 levels, with 8 goals and 3 assists to his name over a combined 16 games across the two tournaments with Midwest Selects. His earliest recorded league statistics are with the Winnipeg Hawks U14 AAA, whom he served as alternate captain in 2019–20. Bear recorded the second-most points in the league that season behind only the Winnipeg Sharks’ Jackson Kostiuk (currently a member of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders), with 57 to his name in 30 games played to Kostiuk’s 58 in 29. He additionally had 8 points in 5 playoff games. Bear was the 15U captain the next season and registered 8 points in 4 games in a truncated season due to COVID-related league shutdown. He would be taken by the Everett Silvertips in round 6 of the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft at 132nd overall. Making the move to the Winnipeg Thrashers for the next two seasons (serving as captain in the latter), Bear would dominate at the U18 level, registering a combined 101 points in 70 games with the Thrashers. The 2022–23 season would see him make his first WHL appearances, wherein he would register a goal and an assist in 19 games for the Silvertips.

This past season, Bear played his first full campaign in the WHL, and had a solid rookie year. He performed to the tune of 25 goals and 32 assists in 67 games, accompanied by a +23. At a bit past the midpoint of this year, Bear has been exceptional, already having surpassed his offensive productivity from last season with 29 goals and 33 assists to his name in just 36 games played.at the time of writing. This places his offensive pace for this season at 105 points in 61 games played, which would be a remarkable draft eligible season and quite possibly could be within reach for him. He additionally has a +36, benefiting somewhat from Everett’s dominance and exceptional defensive core but also being a phenomenal offensive driver, playmaker and finisher and contributing plenty in all areas. Bear is known and recognized for being able to slot in at both C and LW and could have a terrific future at either position due to his well-roundedness. He truly appears to be a player without a true limiting factor. A future wherein he is a Selke Trophy winner with high point totals is quite easy to picture for Bear.

Touching upon NHL comparables for Bear has been an exciting exercise. On the merit of his status as “a hard-working winger who combines physical play with offensive skill and versatility,” Neutral Zone perceives him as most similar to Travis Konecny. The Liberty Yell’s Derek Dunn perceives him in a different light, however, as observed in he and I’s collaborative analysis of a matchup between Bear’s Silvertips and the Victoria Royals. He writes: “He’s a highly skilled player who primarily wants to score, but he has legitimate playmaking ability. There’s elements of Seth Jarvis and Brandon Hagel in his game. He thrives under contact, and he thrives all the same when he has space with the puck.” Additional conversations between Derek, myself, and a mutual friend of ours by the name of Jack (who has been watching prospects for quite some time now) have yielded some observations regarding more granular aspects of his game, such as what serves as his driving force. In contrast with a “rival” of sorts in Victoria’s Cole Reschny, who plays a hand-dominant style that Derek compares in the previously linked article to Mark Stone, Bear possesses a similar motor and a high skill level but seems driven primarily by his feet. He is not the fastest skater out there, but has terrific foot and edgework and a great motor to complement his skill set. In conjunction with this, another NHL player comp that makes sense for Bear is Wyatt Johnston – A guy who can be called a “hooper,” but has that innate skill compounded by a tremendous work rate. I think this, out of all of these, seems to make the most sense for Bear, but it might be worth wondering if his ceiling is even higher than that. It is difficult to make comparisons to Johnston’s dev years considering the manner in which the cancellation of the OHL season in his DY infamously affected his draft stock and the overall picture of how those seasons went. However, Bear is hitting a level of excellence in his DY similar to the one that Johnston hit in his D+1. If anything is worth considering in that conversation, that certainly is.

NHL Central Scouting had Bear placed 9th in their midterm rankings and Elite Prospects 11th, with his highest ranking on major lists being 7th by Smaht Scouting. However, considering the diversity of his tool kit and overall proficiency, as well as his offensive output in the most difficult league to score in amongst the CHL’s three constituent competitions, he is worth considering taking the top five. It really should not even be a question, in my opinion. If, for any reason, he falls even somewhat, he will be one of the most valuable picks of the draft. He is very much an NHL translatable player, and will be a very impressive one. It should be exciting to see what comes next for him.