Carter Hart gets his chance to shine for Philadelphia Flyers

There hasn’t been much to celebrate with the Philadelphia Flyers this season. They’re currently dead last in the Eastern Conference and on a four game losing streak, but with the recent firing of head coach Dave Hakstol as well as the recall of the possible franchise goaltender, Carter Hart, there is finally something to be excited about. 

Since being drafted by the Flyers 48th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, their has been a lot of buzz around Carter Hart and rightfully so. He’s been one of the most decorated goaltenders ever outside of the NHL, winning two CHL Goaltender of the Year awards and three WHL Top Goaltender awards.

His statistics back up the hype, too. During the 2017-18 WHL season with the Everett Silvertips, Hart was 31-6-3 with a 1.60 goals-against average and 0.947 save percentage. In fact, he had four straight seasons in the WHL with a save percentage above 0.900.

This is his first professional season and in his time with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL, he has struggled, but as of late he has been on fire. For this season, he was 9-5-2 with a 3.05 goals-against average and a save percentage of 0.901. Sure those numbers don’t look great, but in his last five starts with the Phantoms, he was 4-1, including a shutout, with a 1.80 goals-against average and a 0.930 save percentage.

There are worries that the team is bringing him up too soon, but just as new GM Chuck Fletcher said, what other options are there? The team has now gone through five different goaltenders this season, all of which have spent time being injured, and now Hart is slated to become the sixth starter this season. That’s a franchise record.

With all of the excitement around him, this is Hart’s chance to take over in Philadelphia for a goalie-desperate team. For Hart to succeed, there’s no doubt that he’s going to need the other guys on the team to step up, though. The defense has looked pathetic at times this season, leading to easy goals for the opposing teams, so unless Hart turns into a brick wall in front of the net, the defensemen on the team will need to step up for their new teammate.

Hart may be in for some rough starts because of what we’ve seen from the rest of the team so far this season. He is certainly going to get a lot of chances to show the Flyers fans his talents, especially because of the questions revolving around the other goaltenders in the organization. There is a lot riding on how he performs, but it isn’t a situation where if he struggles, or if the team in front of him struggles, the organization will give up on him. He may perform well enough that he cements a spot on the Flyers roster from now on, or he may end up needing more time in the AHL.

Regardless, he’s going to be very fun to watch and with how bad, and at times boring, the Flyers have been this season, Hart provides the fan base with something to get excited about. With that said, good luck Carter, the stage is yours.