MAJOR | Ethan Bear critics Bruce Boudreau's coaching style and points out the exact thing that cost the Canucks their playoffs spot

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Felip Gosselin
April 16, 2023 (7:05 PM)

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Ethan Bear joined the Canucks after the NHL had already kicked off its season. The right-handed defenseman came out of one of the most prolific franchises in the latest years, the Caroline Hurricanes.

The Canes have been a force to be reckoned with ever since Rod Brind'Amour took the pole. Bear was on Sportsnet650 yesterday and pointed the reason for the team's lack of success:

''...It was honestly kind of shocking to see where the team was at, ... When you play for such a structured team that is so detail-oriented (Carolina Hurricanes) � there's a plan on every single faceoff, there's a plan on every single play when you're on the ice � when you come from that and come to where we were at this year, it was just, like, �Oh my god. We've got to just survive.''

When Bear first came in, Bruce Boudreau was still the team's bench boss. While the defenseman had nothing bad to say about the man himself he heavily critiqued the lack of structure. However, he held promising comments on the team's new directions, stating that it was the way to go and that he was starting to see what Carolina had been building for the last few years:

�'When you build that winning culture and that winning pedigree, it starts with coaching, yes. Get everybody on the same ship, but then it stems from the players: doing every single thing right, every single day, no matter how taxing, no matter how boring it seems, or how cliche or repetitive it gets.

That's how you build a championship and that culture and I've seen it. I've seen it in Carolina and this last quarter of the year was a step in that direction and that's what really excites me.''

Over the past year, the Canucks have added two strong right-handed shot defensemen, Filip Hronek and Ethan Bear. They recently added the young and freshly out-of-college, Cole McWard and they still have Tyler Myers, Tucker Poolman, and Filip Johansson under contract for next year.

That's five RHD under contract, four of whom have spent time at the NHL level this year. It'll be extremely intriguing to see what decision management makes regarding this situation.