Red Wings Are About to Get Their Best Look Yet at Carter Bear

The 2025 first-round pick will be one of the players to watch when the Red Wings' prospects take the ice in Detroit.

Carter Bear Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

We're finally getting close to actual hockey, and one of the most intriguing players on the ice won't necessarily be the prospect closest to the NHL.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Carter Bear.

The Red Wings have spent years accumulating prospects. In a few days, one of the more intriguing pieces of their latest draft class will get an opportunity to show just how far away he really is.

The Red Wings selected Bear 13th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft. His combination of skill and competitiveness and his willingness to play in difficult areas rather than being purely a perimeter offensive player made Bear attractive to Detroit.

According to Thomas Roth of DetroitRedWings.com, Bear and Nate Danielson will both be on the Red Wings' prospect tournament roster that begins on Saturday. Danielson enters the tournament with people wondering how close he is to helping the Red Wings. With Bear, the question is how quickly can he make himself part of that conversation?

According to Nicholas Cotsonika of NHL.com, Bear was identified who could help the Red Wings in the next couple of years. The Red Wings want to move past the point of stockpiling prospects.

They're reaching the stage where some of these players have to turn into NHL contributors. When you've missed the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons and fans' patience is wearing thin, a franchise can't keep selling the base on potential.

Bear belongs to the next wave instead of the group Detroit has been waiting on for several years.

The Red Wings aren't asking Bear to prove he's ready for the NHL next week. That's probably setting the bar in the wrong place. What he can do is show why the Red Wings thought enough of him to spend the number 13 pick on his services.

At this stage of his development, the Red Wings would undoubtedly like to see the evidence and the qualities that made Bear a first-round pick begin to translate against increasingly difficult competition.

The prospect tournament won't determine what Bear ultimately becomes. Three games in September rarely provide definitive answers about any young player. But they can provide clues.

If Bear can make himself difficult to ignore before the Red Wings even open training camp, Detroit may leave the tournament with something more valuable than another promising prospect's performance.

It may leave with another reason to believe one of the most important pieces of its future is getting closer.