TheRebuild
Bold as Boognish
I like him as a person, but doesn’t have the offensive skills needed for a d-man of his size. Hope things pan out better for him in Carolina.
Tribute Ethan Bear Appreciation Thread
- Thread starter AddyTheWrath
- Start date
Aerchon
Registered User
- Jul 20, 2011
- 10,515
- 3,705
His general trajectory since drafted outside of last year and an injury year has been meteoric. His offense in perticular prior to the nhl very good. Giving up on him this early in his career seems criminal. Replacing a cost controlled contract like him with Cody Ceci at a higher price doubly so.
Wish him the best and appreciate the game he played most nights while here.
Wish him the best and appreciate the game he played most nights while here.
edmoil3
Registered User
- Mar 26, 2010
- 892
- 367
Oh god most of you crapped on him regularly
Pointteen
Registered User
Being undersized and having poor lateral mobility in the defensive zone limited his use here in playoff games; maybe Carolina's system will help him flourish
Carolina forwards support their dmen when they were being aggressively forechecked.
Edmonton forwards will be near the red line looking for a stretchpass, no matter the score.
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Mr Positive
Cap Crunch Incoming
- Nov 20, 2013
- 35,942
- 16,328
That might change with some of our additions
Drivesaitl
Finding Hyman
I think its overstated. Generally there is better forward puck support here under Tippett, and when there isn't its something that gets addressed.
Bears difficulty, often enough, is that when there is limited option he will send the puck somewhere anyway and several times make a disaster pass that just isn't there, that is essentially a pass assist for an opponent goal.
Do that a few times, even several times and eventually you'll be gone from a team. Do with the frequency that Bear would and at key moments and in two consecutive playoff series and it becomes move on time. Sometimes a D has to eat the puck, battle, or make an evasive move to try to buy time.
Needs to be said too that alert D utilize Smith more and vice versa. There is often the option to just direct the puck to Smith so he can freeze it or play another D type decoy. Good D realize this. It seems almost not to occur to Bear to utilize Smith.
Bears strengths were in jump D and offensive forays and doing some good things with the puck in NZ or Ozone. His downfall is struggles decisioning in own zone.
bobbythebrain
Registered User
- Jul 30, 2016
- 13,518
- 12,799
Not really true. Both Drai and JP did yeomans work back checking.
Tipps system has also been good for d support.
Bear had a real hard time making good plays defensively cuz his mobility looked restricted since the playins
He also caved himself offensively. He was put in numerous scoring positions and simply looked off the oportunities with poor decisions to dump or pass.
The guy admitted he had a poor season, funny how some fans deny it and blame the coaches. 3 outta 6 dmen had career years last year....i hardly think it was the coaching
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CantHaveTkachev
Legends
sounds like a great dude and he'll do great in Carolina..he'll be a good 2nd pair defenseman in the future
Drivesaitl
Finding Hyman
auto correct is a bastard. Yeomans.
But yeah. As I've stated Tippett green lit Jump D these past 2 seasons. Most of the D benefitted from it, for instance Barrie, Nurse, Larsson. Bouchard will. Bear struggles for the last 1.5 seasons and two playoffs of his own accord.
Thanks Ethan, look forward to Oilers getting you back somehow hopefully soon. Trade feels like a big mistake...
Drivesaitl
Finding Hyman
I could see this view if we didn't have an arsenal of offensive oriented D that are just much, much more adept. The reality is that all or Bouchard, Broberg, Sammy, are better prospects, and we already have Nurse, Keith, Barrie. Our need on D was for a couple stay at home D prospects that just make reasonable reads and decisions and limit mistakes. Bear isn't that, and might never be that.
To be a small D in current NHL one needs to have elite skillsets, reads, decisions. You have to be on a quasi Makar level to make it work at Bears size, as a D.
Believe it or not, I meant Shore, Khaira, Turris and our entire bottom 6.
None of them backchecked, or supported the puck carrier, or made themselves available for outlets.
Porkleaker
Registered User
We got rid of so much trash!!! I like Bear as a person but yeah we needed something more and Bouchard barely even got a look last season, Tippett is way too stubborn.
Anarchism
John Henry
With Bear gone and Bouchard expected to play and still will be learning the D zone on the job we really need Ceci to concentrate on positional play and gap control in the D zone.
Was hoping better for him but looks like similar issues as when he was here.
Spoke to Carolina fans apparently looks slow, turnovers and weak on the puck and now a healthy scratch.
Spoke to Carolina fans apparently looks slow, turnovers and weak on the puck and now a healthy scratch.
Czechboy
Easy schedules rule!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 22,453
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It's tough call.. last year he was really bad after concussion. This year he has been bad after covid.
Both seem look legit reasons to regress in play.
On the contraray, 2 seasons in a row where isn't playing very well by middle of year.
I do tire of saying I think he'd be better than Barrie on our 3rd pair (younger, shorter contract, lower cap hit and I don't see how we're worse) Bouch - Ceci - Bear ONLY to be told he's not better than Nurse (wrong hand) and not winning the Norris. I said third pair.lol
Most our D would be a healthy scratch in Carolina and if Duncan's son lived in Raleigh, the GM would've hung up the phone when Bowman called. I doubt Ceci is on first pair there. I doubt Barrie would get ice time at all (not that they'd ever sign him). It's a nice contrast of how bad our D is. If they got rid of Hamilton, no way they sign Nurse to that contract either.
I watched about ten Hurricanes' games earlier in the season before Bear got hit with COVID.
Even during that stretch, he was by far the weakest link on their D; constantly getting beat to the outside because of his slow foot speed, turning pucks over in the d-zone incessantly because of poor decision making or physical weakness or lack of reach, etc. Bear has shown these signs since well before the Chicago or Jets series, both in which he was the weak link on the blueline.
Honestly, for as much as flack Barrie gets, he's still a better defensive D-man than Bear is because of his hockey IQ.
The Nuge
Some say…
It’s too bad. He was looking like a top 4 dman for a while but he really does rely on his brain and compete level. Two things that go downhill fast when you get into a funk.
Stoneman89
Registered User
- Feb 8, 2008
- 27,407
- 21,803
Most of us that didn't have the rose glasses on, all said that skating was his biggest issue. And because of that, his mistakes become magnified. Good guy, with some offensive instincts, but the skating and size issues will forever hold him back.
GIN ANTONIC
Registered User
As a Canes fan I definitely wouldn’t say that before COVID he was our worst D man. I guess it’s debatable but all our D were playing pretty well he seemed to be fitting in and buying into the system. Wouldn’t say he was outstanding or anything but really didn’t notice him much which was a good thing. A few times he made nice plays in the offensive zone or jumped in the rush but we weren’t looking for too much for highlights. Just a steady game.
But yeah, since he got COVID he looks like a completely different player and has been scratched for Brendan Smith… who actually had been decent recently… which is weird.
Anyway, still a big old mystery box with Bear. Will be interesting to see how the rest of the year goes and then into the off season.
Drivesaitl
Finding Hyman
Not meaning to rag on you but the post was interesting, even if made in July. But Bouchard this season is showing every reason why the org was probably right not to rush him in. He's not ready, and he's still not ready this season. Would be nice if we had a GM that plugged the club up better with D and goaltending in the offseason. Bouchard is playing terrified out there. the cool ice blood calm that he would show in limited looks is now gone. He's tense now. The goal light constantly flashing, it does a number on rook D.
people got their wish, we're playing Bouchard too much, and its the wrong thing to be doing.
Drivesaitl
Finding Hyman
Bears problem here generally wasn't how he started seasons. its that his play would decline as season went on and be not a good option on ice in last couple months of seasons or playoffs. Originally this was a conditioning problem. But with him being a smaller D without elite movement, he gets nailed a lot, and I think the punishment and the having to punch above weight starts to overwhelm him at NHL level. He'd be a decent D if seasons were 40 games long.
