You're too kind. I try to be reasonable.
Bear looked like an emerging 2/3 defenceman for the Oilers in 19/20. Made smart, heads up plays. The master of the ten foot pass. Very good at getting himself out of trouble, excellent hockey IQ. Didn't get much for offensive opportunities, but has it in him - won WHL defenceman of the year with Seattle.
This last year he was used more as a 4/5, which many of us disagreed with. He got a puck in the head sitting on the bench which resulted in a concussion and him missing ten or so games, and when he came back he had a bit of trouble getting up to speed - five games or so. Unfortunately, that was enough (combined with his relatively small size, non-physical game, and to be frank, not being white put him behind the 8-ball from the beginning for a vocal, stupid minority) for many fans and some media members to turn on him. His underlying numbers were excellent, he continued to do a huge number of little things well, but it was never enough for some and because Barrie is the secondary assist master of the NHL and Larsson was having a good year, he frequently got relegated to the third pairing and lost the coaching staff's trust in the playoffs.
The truth of the matter is nobody for sure knows what Bear is right now, but given his first two full seasons in the NHL, it's probably fairest to say that he's somewhere between a #3 defenceman to a #5 defenceman. On your team he could play on any pairing and do really well. We're excited to see what Foegele can bring, but many - myself included - were not happy to see that deal go down and think that we got the worst of it.