2025 Draft Profile: Carter Bear

If the Habs are looking for a point producing forward, capable of playing both centre or left wing, with the highest compete level of anyone in this draft, then Carter Bear will be an excellent selection for Montreal. Although he is an average-sized player, similar to Nick Suzuki at the same age, his combination of high-end skills with high-end tenacity is an attractive package for a hockey prospect.

Bio

Center/Left Wing
Shoots: Left
DOB: November 4, 2006
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 179 pounds

Rankings

Elite Prospects: 8
Future Considerations: 23
Daily Faceoff: 14
The Hockey News (Ferrari): 7
The Hockey News (Kennedy): 15
TSN (Bob McKenzie): 15
TSN (Craig Button): 24
NHL Central Scouting (N. American): 10
Sportsnet (Cosentino): 9
Sportsnet (Bukala): 9
Recruit Scouting: 7
Dobber Prospects: 13
Draft Prospects Hockey: 9
Smaht Scouting: 9
McKeen’s Hockey: 20

Statistics

Scouting Report

Carter was on pace for a hundred-point campaign for the Everett Silvertips, which likely would have made him a top-five scorer in the WHL. Unfortunately, an injury cost him the last twelve regular season games and the playoffs, to prematurely end his second full junior season. Bear is a successful point generator, with high-level passing and playmaking abilities. His skating skills are above average, providing him with good acceleration, straight-ahead speed, and strong edge work to stay agile on the ice. His goal-scoring numbers nearly matched his assists. Carter has a strong wrist shot, capable of scoring from the faceoff dots and in due to high accuracy. His tenacious style helps him outwork bigger opponents in the net front area to capitalize on deflections and rebounds, much like Brendan Gallagher.

His offensive skills lend themselves well to a strong defensive game. He is a tenacious forechecker, often able to strip an opponent of the puck due to very high hockey sense. As such, Bear was used regularly in all special team situations and was one of his team’s leaders in ice time. Carter is also a very physical player who relishes hitting an opponent legally and often. His high hockey IQ gives him the advantage of anticipating plays before they develop, which benefits both his defensive and offensive game.

Circling back to Bear’s injury, it was a partial lacerated Achilles tendon which did require surgery. Although it’s a serious injury, it’s not necessarily one that a hockey player will not recover from and still play at a high level. Back in 2019, Peyton Krebs suffered the same injury due to a skate blade that cut through the back of his sock. At the time, Krebs was considered a top-ten prospect for the upcoming draft, but because of that injury, he slid to 17th. Over the past two seasons in Buffalo, Peyton has missed only three games, while still being known as a speedy skater.

Although Carter Bear attended the NHL Combine during the first week of June, he was unable to participate in the physical testing. He has resumed light skating and some lightweight training to continue his rehabilitation, and at this moment, he’s ahead of schedule for a full recovery. It’s very likely he will be ready for his WHL training camp in late August and for his first NHL training camp in September.

In a recent interview with TVA Sports, when asked about the possibility of being drafted by Montreal, Bear said with an excited tone “It would be pretty cool….It would be pretty special to be a part of it”. I get the impression from that interview that he’s the type of player who would thrive in the intense spotlight that Montreal brings. In the same article, there was a comment by Everett GM Mike Fraser, who said Montreal Canadiens scouts and management were in person to watch Bear at least ten games this season.

Timeline

Like nearly every draft-eligible prospect, Bear will need time to fully develop into a pro player, both physically and mentally. His style of play makes him a coach-friendly player, since he learns quickly and can be used at any time during a game no matter the score. Given his style of play and his strong two-way game, I predict he will be playing in the NHL for the 2027-28 season either by making the team out of training camp or through an early-to-mid-season call-up from the farm team.

In Montreal’s current situation, their lack of depth at center would give Bear a better opportunity to get into a lineup sooner than later. As a winger, his overall game translates extremely well to the NHL level, which would allow him to easily start in a fourth line position before his play or another teammate’s injury gave him a chance to move up. Bear is going to become a fan favourite quickly due to his high effort and high-energy style.