2025 NHL Draft profile: Carter Bear, Everett Silvertips

Everett Silvertips Head Coach Steve Hamilton looked across his desk in disbelief.

He’d just let his star forward, Carter Bear, know that he was one of the top players in the country chosen to compete at the first-ever CHL USA Prospects Challenge presented by Kubota Canada.

As Hamilton recalls, Bear was blown away by the news and simply asked, ‘Why me?’

Months later, Bear says this was the first moment when he truly believed any team would choose him in the NHL Draft.

But now, it’s about how high he could go.

“I’m still processing it,” Bear smiled. “Honestly, it’s not all about me. It’s mostly about my parents and what they’ve done for me. They should be the ones going up to (NHL Commissioner) Bettman, shaking his hand more than me.”

The 6-foot, 177-pound winger erupted for 40 goals and 42 assists for 82 points and a +33 rating in 56 games, helping the Silvertips clinch the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s top regular-season team in 2024-25.

He led the ‘Tips in points and goals and ranked among the top skaters in the league, tying for second in game-winning goals (9), seventh in goals, and finishing 12th in points-per-game (1.46).

“He’s an elite netfront guy when we’ve used him around there,” Hamilton said. “I think the best way to describe it is that he knows where to go to score and how to get that done. He’s not afraid to go to the net, not afraid to win battles. But he can also score from a distance. He’s got the knack and that’s not necessarily a trait you can teach, but he really figured out how he can find the back of the net consistently throughout the year. He understands there are very, very, very few, if any, one-dimensional players left in the NHL. Everybody checks, everybody puts pressure on the puck, does the right things, the little things, because it’s just become a requirement. So he knows if he wants to be a pro, those are things he has to do.”

Step 1: Draft Carter Bear.
Step 2: Kick back and relax. @WHLsilvertips | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/KbXOLvvHKG

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) June 9, 2025

It’s been a wild ride for the West St. Paul, Man. product, who was originally drafted by Everett in the sixth round of the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft.

He was sent back to the U18AAA ranks in his first season of WHL eligibility and broke onto the team as a depth-role player before working his way up as an undeniable scoring threat.

“I think that kind of changed my mindset,” Bear said of his early start in major junior. “I would try to play everywhere, try to learn new, different skills. I think that’s how I grew my game a lot,  not even by skills, but by work ethic. At my best, I think I don’t lose a puck battle. I don’t really lose any shifts. I think I’m all over, all over the ice, you know, dominating each end of the ice, each piece of the game.”

Unfortunately, the conversation around Bear has focused less on his rise through the ranks and more on his statement season coming to a swift close when he suffered a partially cut achilles tendon in early March.

It’s another hurdle he’s confident he can clear.

Not only does Bear expect to be 100% for training camp in the fall, he’s already back on the ice (albeit in a no-contact jersey) and in the gym.

“That’s an injury players come back from, and they come back with it, fully healthy, with nothing that’s going to linger for them,” TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button said. “To score in the NHL, to score at any level, requires determination, or we use the term, paying the price. It’s not easy to score, or else everybody would do it, but Carter gets into those areas and he’s hungry and he’s determined, and he’s ready to pay the price to score. And I think for a player such as Carter, you start to do those things, and you start to work on those things, then you start to get results and now that builds your confidence, and it becomes a vicious positive circle.”

Twenty-five NHL clubs spoke with Bear at the 2025 NHL Combine.

NHL Central Scouting, which bumped Bear from a ‘B’ to an ‘A’ prospect back in November, has also ranked him 10th among all North American skaters in the agency’s final list, while other scouts have projected him anywhere from seventh to 15th.

His parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins will be among those cheering Bear on in Los Angeles when the 2025 NHL Draft begins on Friday, June 27.